Course Description
Summary
In this course, we’ll read fictions by read three major Jewish writers of the last and present century: I.B. Singer (1902-1991), the first Yiddish writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature; Cynthia Ozick (1928- ) and Grace Paley (1922-2007). Old World shtetls and the streets of Warsaw; Broadway, the Bronx, and Greenwich Village are settings rife with dybbuks, ghosts, and golems; as well as writers, rabbis kibbitzers; infidels peaceniks. The stories are full of speech—(“from God's mouth to your ear, or better, to my ear”)—gossipy, poetic prophetic, full of “piss and vinegar” in the face of ravaging History. Among the characters you’ll meet are the first female mayor of New York City, who uses a golem to get the job done (Ozick); and Paley’s activist single moms occupying Washington Square. You’ll write short response papers and imitations; longer mid-term and final essays; and along the way you’ll present your own and collaborative work in conferences organized by the class.
Terms