
The Birth of a New Narrative: Jewish-American Autobiographical Writing
Author(s) -
Ștefana Iosif
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
linguaculture
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2285-9403
pISSN - 2067-9696
DOI - 10.47743/lincu-2020-2-0173
Subject(s) - judaism , diaspora , acculturation , jewish american literature , narrative , immigration , contest , history , biography , context (archaeology) , sociology , jewish studies , haskalah , gender studies , literature , aesthetics , ethnic group , anthropology , art , political science , art history , law , archaeology
The Jewish diaspora quickly became one of the most notable immigrant groups in the American context. Faced with an arduous process of assimilation and acculturation, as exiles, Jews in America felt the pressure of the difficult choice between preserving their tradition and adapting to the new pragmatism and materialism that their new circumstances required. The issue of accelerated assimilation and loss of Jewishness became a real concern. As such, initiatives such as the one proposed by the YIVO Institute of a contest for autobiographical writing belonging to Jewish immigrants, dedicated to protecting Jewishness, offered a forum for personal written histories, submitted in different languages, but united through their English translations. Autobiography, as an essentially American genre, constituted an auspicious venue of expression, thus aiding the communal efforts of (re-)shaping and (re-)defining what it meant to be a Jew and what it meant to be a Jewish-American.