Affiliated Identities in Jewish American Literature

"Examining connections between Jewish American authors and Jewish authors elsewhere in America, Europe, and Israel, this book explores a concept of authorial affiliation that emphasizes how writers intentionally highlight their connections with other writers. Starting with Philip Roth as a catalyst, David Hadar reveals a larger network of authors involved in formations of Jewish American literary identity, including among others Cynthia Ozick, Saul Bellow, Nicole Krauss, and Nathan Englander. Whether it's incorporating other writers into fictional work as characters, interviewing them, publishing critical essays about them, or invoking them in paratext or publicity, writers use a variety of methods to forge public personas, craft their own identities as artists, and infuse their art with meaningful cultural associations. Hadar's analysis deepens our understanding of Jewish American and Israeli literature, positioning them in de-centered relation with one another as well as with European writing. The result is a thought-provoking challenge of the concept of homeland, recasting each of these literatures as diasporic and questioning the assumption that Jewish languages necessarily claim centrality in Jewish literatures"--