The Making and Re-making of Jewish-American Literary History

Until ten to fifteen years ago, Jewish American literary history was construed and described in overwhelmingly mid-twentieth-century masculine terms. As a corrective to this longstanding trend, this essay undertakes to “remake” Jewish American literary history in feminist terms. First, in an act of feminist “readerly resistance,” it surveys recent efforts to remake the canon to include women writers and to reflect the experiences of women readers. Then it applies a variety of second-and third-wave feminist interpretive methodologies to readings of both classic and lesser-known works of Jewish American literature, including Henry Roth’s Call it Sleep, Philip Roth’s The Ghost Writer, Emma Lazarus’ “The New Colossus,” Anzia Yezierska’s “The Lost Beautifulness,” Cynthia Ozick’s “Puttermesser and Xanthippe,” Jo Sinclair’s, The Changelings, and Dara Horn’s In The Image.