Facing Black and Jew: Literature as Public Space in Twentieth-Century America

Hardback

Main Details

Title Facing Black and Jew: Literature as Public Space in Twentieth-Century America
Authors and Contributors      By (author) Adam Zachary Newton
SeriesCultural Margins
Physical Properties
Format:Hardback
Pages:236
Dimensions(mm): Height 224,Width 144
Category/GenreLiterary theory
Literary studies - from c 1900 -
Literary studies - fiction, novelists and prose writers
ISBN/Barcode 9780521651066
ClassificationsDewey:813.5098924
Audience
Tertiary Education (US: College)
Professional & Vocational

Publishing Details

Publisher Cambridge University Press
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publication Date 15 July 1999
Publication Country United Kingdom

Description

A reading of African American and Jewish American writers from Henry Roth and Ralph Ellison to Philip Roth and David Bradley. Reading the work of such writers alongside and through one another, Newton's book offers an original way of juxtaposing two major traditions in modern American literature, and rethinking the sometimes vexed relationship between two constituencies ordinarily confined to sociopolitical or media commentary alone. Newton combines Emmanuel Levinas's ethical philosophy and Walter Benjamin's theory of allegory in shaping an innovative kind of ethical-political criticism. Through artful, dialogical readings of Saul Bellow and Chester Himes, David Mamet and Anna Deavere Smith, and others, Newton seeks to represent American Blacks and Jews outside the distorting mirror of 'Black-Jewish Relations', and restrictive literary histories alike. A final chapter addresses the Black/Jewish dimension of the O. J. Simpson trial.

Reviews

'... this is an absorbing and highly intelligent work ...' Journal of Jewish Studies