Around the turn of the century, the United States was still experiencing the mass migration of millions of Jews and other immigrants escaping oppression and poverty in Europe. Set against this historical backdrop, author Louis Harap examines the development of the Jewish American, as both writer and character, from 1900 to the 1950s. Creative Awakening traces fifty years' development of Jewish American fiction, poetry and humor, as it analyzes fictional portrayals of Jews themselves.

Creative awakening: the Jewish presence in twentieth century American literature, 1900-1940s

Harap, Louis; American Jewish Archives

Greenwood Publishing Group, Incorporated

Libraries Unlimited, Incorporated

New York: Greenwood Press

Praeger; Bloomsbury

ABC-CLIO, LLC

Contributions in ethnic studies,, no. 17, New York, New York State, 1987

United States, United States of America

First Edition / First Printing, 1987

1. publ., New York, 1987

[curator]lenscriv@archive.org[/curator][date]20170106164419[/date][state]approved[/state][comment]199[/comment]

Bibliography: p. [185]-186.
"Published in cooperation with the American Jewish Archives."
Includes index.

Includes bibliography and index.

Two themes predominate in works written by Jews - the Americanization of the immigrant Jew despite social prejudice and racism, and social radicalism. Discusses the antisemitism of leading non-Jewish writers between 1900-18 (e.g., Edith Wharton, Jack London), and some works by philosemitic writers. Argues that most of the important non-Jewish writers in the 1920s were indifferent to social and political issues, but accepted the pervasive antisemitism of society. Notes the vulgar Jew-baiting of Pound, the social prejudice of Fitzgerald and Hemingway, and the resistance to Jewish cultural influence of Eliot and Cather. During the 1930s, Jewish writers aimed at assimilation but were forced by antisemitism and racism to deal with Jewish themes. Pp. 124-132 focus on the controversy over Dreiser's antisemitism. Deals also with Jewish war novels showing widespread antisemitism in the armed forces, and discusses self-hating Jewish characters and the authors' identification with them. (From the Bibliography of the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism)

"Published in cooperation with the American Jewish Archives."
Bibliography: p. [185]-186
Includes index

2023-06-28