Chaim Potok: Confronting Modernity Through the Lens of Tradition

Index

abandonment, experience of, 66–69 Abramson, Edward, xvi, xvii Albanese, Catherine, 17 alienation, experience of, 13–14 ambiguity in The Book of Lights, 90–91, 173 American literature, xvi–xvii. See also Jewish American literature ancestor, mythic, 51, 53 anger and religious ideology, 43–44 anti-Semitism, 106, 132 Aquinas, Thomas, 171 art Potok and, 48, 109–10, 122, 130, 154 redemptive power of, 77 religious imagery in, 154–55 role of, at Yeshiva University, 139 transformation of brutal reality into, 64, 71, 75–78 at yeshiva, 141 atom bomb in The Book of Lights, 80, 84–85 choice of target for, 89–91 Hiroshima and, 81–82, 89 Austen, Jane, xiii, 169 Balzac, Honoré de, 47 Band, Arnold J., 4 baseball game in The Chosen as metaphor, xv, 7–8, 22, 40–41, 131 writing style for description of, 121–22 Bellow, Saul Potok compared to, 4, 5, 11, 12, 13, 136 themes of, 10, 47 bildungsromans, Potok novels as, xvi, 80, 122 Bond, Horatio, 92 The Book of Lights (Potok) ambiguity in, 90–91, 173 central metaphor of, xv–xvi, 129–30 choice theme in, 80–81 confrontation of cultures in, 87–88, 91–92, 129 firebombing theme in, 92–93 I Am the Clay compared to, 99 indecision of Gershon, 83–84, 85 inspiration for, 155 “The Journey to the Mountain” compared to, 104, 105 Kabbalah texts and, 82–83, 84, 93, 94–95 Korea experience in, 86–89 moving of graves in, 87, 103 mysticism of, 149 plot and characters of, 106 rooftop experience in, 81–82, 91, 95 sources of illumination in, 80 transformation theme in, 87–88, 91–92 voice from darkness in, 93–94, 95 Brideshead Revisited (Waugh), xii, 16, 128, 133, 141, 165–66, 174 Brooklyn Crucifixion in My Name Is Asher Lev, 51, 132 Potok painting named, 48 Buber, Martin, 158 Buning, Marius, 53–54, 113 burial customs in Korea, 99, 100–101, 103. See also graves, moving of Bzztôh publishing house, 109 Camus, Albert, The Myth of Sisyphus, 157–58 The Canal (Potok), 57 n. 13 canons, establishment of, 18 carnival. See county fair as metaphor in The Promise Centralia Massacre, 72–73 Chaim Potok Papers, 104 Index 178 INDEX Chandal, Channah (character) abandonment and, 68 as central character, 61, 63–64 loneliness and, 66–67 speeches of, 69–70 trauma in life of, 72, 73–75 Chandal, Davita (character), 59, 60, 62 Chandal, Michael (character), 64, 69, 71–73, 75 Chandal, Sarah (character), 59, 64, 65–66 characters. See also fathers; specific characters affirmative stance and optimism of, 113 meaning of names of, 27, 37, 50, 70–71, 80–81, 82, 104 paradoxical beliefs of, 125–26 Potok on, 47 as romanticized, 5, 13, 15 Cheyette, Bryan, 110–11 choice theme in The Book of Lights, 80–81 in The Chosen, 14–15, 31–32 The Chosen (Potok) alienation in, 13–14 as autobiographical, 4, 20 awards for, 11 as best seller, xiv–xv, 4 central metaphor of, xv, 7–8, 129 choice theme in, 14–15, 31–32 as classic, 120 critical reviews of, 4–6, 11, 13, 119, 127 culture conflict in, 21–24, 128–29, 171–72 dialectical forces in, 20, 24–29 doubles used in, 124 influence of, 134–36 Judaism in, 123–26, 131–32, 149 as love story, 136–37 opening scene of, 22–23, 40–41 plot and characters of, xiv, 4, 6–9, 31–32, 106, 119–20, 148–49 popularity of, 13–14, 110 publication and adaptations of, 3 style of, 8, 120–21 as subtle and complex, 137–38 Talmudic disquisitions in, 123–24 Clark, Charles Allen, Religions of Old Korea, 105 community in The Gift of Asher Lev, 52–53, 54–55 in My Name Is Asher Lev, 51–52 compartmentalization and bifurcation, Potok on, 125–26 Conrad, Joseph, 124 core-to-core confrontation of cultures in The Book of Lights, 87–88, 91–92, 129 in The Chosen, 21–24, 128–29, 171–72 in Davita’s Harp, 63 definition of, 113 n. 4 within Judaism, 14–15 in modern literature, xiii in My Name Is Asher Lev, xv, 172 in novels, 106–7, 129 Potok experience of, 98–99, 130–31, 142–43 in The Promise, 21–24, 171, 172 as theme, 143–44, 145–46, 170–73 county fair as metaphor in The Promise, 22, 39–40, 41–42 Crane, Stephen, xiii creation, Potok on, 83 crucifixions, paintings of, 48, 49, 51, 130, 132...