The Jew in the American War Novel

1920s-2020s
1. Auflage 2025
ISBN: 978-1-032-99532-8
Verlag: Routledge

Buch, Englisch, 178 Seiten, Format (B × H): 157 mm x 235 mm, Gewicht: 417 g

Reihe: Routledge Research in American Literature and Culture

This is the first book of its kind to provide an analysis of the representation of Jews in American war novels throughout the long twentieth century.

This study delineates the intricate relationship between Jews and wars. Are Jews depicted as draft dodgers or heroes in American war fiction? How do Jewish soldiers cope with anti-Semitism in war novels? Do Jewish women contribute to the war effort? Addressing these questions, among others, this book analyzes texts, some of which have been overlooked by critics and some by well-known authors, such as Ernest Hemingway and Philip Roth, in order to trace the changes in the perception of Jews in relation to war. Scrutinizing themes such as blood and masculinity, The Jew in the American War Novel argues that the depiction of the Jew is characterized by progression and then regression; in war novels published shortly after WWI, non-Jews see Jews as draft evaders who lack masculinity. After WWII, Jews began to be seen as contributing to the warfare. However, toward the end of twentieth century, reflecting the reemergence of prevalent anti-Semitism, Jews are once again seen as disloyal, resulting in a clash between the sense of Jewish and American identities.

Zielgruppe

Postgraduate

Autoren/Hrsg.

Reznick, Ohad

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literarische Strömungen & Epochen
• Geisteswissenschaften Jüdische Studien Jüdische Studien Jüdische Studien: Literatur & Kunst
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Europäische Literatur
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Englische Literatur Amerikanische Literatur

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgments



Introduction: The Relationship between Jewish Americans and Wars





Chapter 1: The Interwar Period–the Jew as an Unmasculine Man who Evades the War

Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises: The Jew as Imitating the Real Male

John Dos Passos' Three Soldiers: The "Kike" who is Proven Right

Chapter 2: The 1940s–1950s – Oversimplifying the Jewish American Conflict

Irwin Shaw's The Young Lions: Anti-Semitism as a Threat to Democracy

Wasteland: The Merger of Jewish and Non-Jewish Blood

That Winter: Revisiting Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises



Chapter 3: The 1960s–1980s—Jewish Wars

War and Remembrance: WWII and Saving Jews

Crescent City: A Jewish War Against Slavery and Chauvinism

Chapter 4: The 1990s–2020s—The Jews as Separate from Other Americans

All Other Nights: A Clash Between the Two Identities

The Living and the Lost: The Holocaust as Shaping Jewish Identity



Epilogue: Blood, Draft Evasion, and Anti-Semitism in The Human Stain



Index

Über Autor(innen)

Ohad Reznick teaches American literature at Tel Aviv University and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. He is the author of Imagined Non-Jews: Jews Passing as Gentiles in Post-WWII and Multicultural American Fiction (2024). His articles appear in MELUS, Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction, and LIT: Literature, Interpretation, Theory.