Jewish difference, French theorist Alain Finkeilkraut insists, is a different sort of difference from those with which we are more familiar. But what are the distinct qualities that have composed Jewish difference? And how have these qualities intersected with those associated with other, allegedly more familiar, forms of difference-ethno-racial, gendered, sexual? We'll be looking at the various ramifications of these questions in the context of American Jewish writing and experience since roughly the turn of the century to the present day. Along the way, we'll think about the ways in which Jewish-Americans sought to define themselves within and against the American national project, at least as they understood it; and about the relation of that project of self-definition to categories of gender, of sexual normativity, of "whiteness" and "off-whiteness." We'll also look at how these projects intersect with those of other racial and ethnic agendas-e.g. those of African-American and Asian-American culture makers. And we'll conclude by looking at the efforts of contemporary culture-making, both Jewish and gentile, to move beyond the impasses to which many of these interactions tend. The course will be focused on literary expression, but will be broadly interdisciplinary in its ambitions: we will look at history, film and music as well as novels and stories. Works to be studied include: Cahan, The Rise of David Levinsky; Johnson, Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man; Malamud, The Tenants, Hasia Diner, Lower East Side Memories; D.W. Griffith, The Musketeers of Pig Alley; Sergio Leone, Once Upon a Time in America; Jeffrey Melnick, A Right to Sing the Blues; Michael Rogin, Blackface/White Noise; Spike Lee, Bamboozled; Philip Roth, The Human Stain; Tony Kushner, Angels in America; Gish Jen, Mona in the Promised Land and some stories; Bharathi Mukerhkee, The Middleman and Other Stories; Grace Paley, Collected Stories; Lan Samantha Chang, Hunger; the music of the Klezmatics, Don Byron, and others. Requirements will include: two papers, one shorter and one longer, perhaps a research presentation. Prerequisite: a 100-level English course, except English 150. Enrollment limit: 25 (expected: 25). Preference given to English and American Studies majors.
Post-1900

Hour: FREEDMAN