American Jewish Fiction: A Century of Stories [Paperback]

Gerald Shapiro (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 080329252X | ISBN-13: 978-0803292529 | Publication Date: October 1, 1998

This anthology presents an ambitious cross-section of Jewish American short fiction. It covers a full century of extraordinary writings, from turn-of-the-century immigrant fiction to stories by some of the finest young contemporary American writers. To read through its pages is to encounter a remarkable—and remarkably diverse—literary tradition.

The volume opens with stories by two important immigrant writers from the early twentieth century, Abraham Cahan and Anzia Yezierska. There follows a generous selection of modern Jewish American stories by such celebrated authors as Isaac Bashevis Singer, Saul Bellow, Grace Paley, Tillie Olsen, Bernard Malamud, and Philip Roth. The collection concludes with a rich sampling of stories by contemporary writers whose works illustrate the impressive variety and vitality of recent Jewish American fiction.

Equally suited to scholars, students, and general readers, American Jewish Fiction provides an invaluable survey of literary works that have enriched and transformed American—and world—literature.

Editorial Reviews

From Kirkus Reviews

paper 0-8032-9252-X Shapiros vigorous and highly entertaining collection of 23 stories forms a valuable complement to Ilan Stavans's current Oxford Book of Jewish Short Stories (p. 1327). Though some better-known contemporaries are represented by such perhaps overfamiliar pieces as Saul Bellow's ``A Silver Dish'' and Cynthia Ozick's ``Envy,'' Shapiro also offers such unconventional delights as a fine, wry Bernard Malamud story (``The Lady of the Lake'') and Philip Roth's ``On the Air,'' a dazzling display of verbal comic energy that first appeared nearly 30 years ago in Theodore Solotaroff's American Review. The selections are uniformly well chosen to portray familiar component parts of the Jewish-American experience: immigration, Holocaust survival, assimilation, generational conflict, and the hard-fought preservation of traditional culture. One regrets the omission of writers like Daniel Fuchs and Lore Segal, but appreciates the vivid presences of Steve Stern (his frisky ``The Tale of a Kite''), Robin Hemley (whose ironical ``The 19th Jew'' is a beauty), Melvin James Bukiet, and the precociously gifted and justly acclaimed Allegra Goodman. There isn't a dud to be found in this consummately readable anthology. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Gerald Shapiro is an associate professor of English at the University of Nebraska. He is author of From Hunger: Stories, which won the Edward Lewis Wallant Award for Jewish Fiction and Bad Jews and Other Stories.

Product Details

• Paperback: 445 pages
• Publisher: University of Nebraska Press (October 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 080329252X
• ISBN-13: 978-0803292529
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #252,354 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #37 in Books > Literature & Fiction > World Literature > Jewish

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable book, July 16, 2011

By 

MILTON MOLLICK - See all my reviews

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This review is from: American Jewish Fiction: A Century of Stories (Paperback)

This looks like it will be a very good book to read and discuss in our book discussion group. Since we are going to read the stories one at a time, every two weeks, I do not know or wish to read ahead.

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The ongoing conversation of Jewish American Literature, March 20, 2006

By 

Shalom Freedman "Shalom Freedman" (Jerusalem,Israel) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: American Jewish Fiction: A Century of Stories (Paperback)

In his astute introduction to this volume Gerald Shapiro points to a previous anthology of Jewish stories edited close to thirty years before by Irving Howe. Howe saw his anthology as as the swan- song of American- Jewish literature, the movement of a moment which had had its moment in the 50's and 60's and now was gone. Shapiro writing three decades later says that the report of the demise of American Jewish writing was premature.
He offers as evidence the work of a bevy of young writers for whom Jewishness is a central theme of their work. He argues that this question of Jewish identity, along with the question of religious faith and skepticism are two central themes of American- Jewish Literature throughout.
Shapiro does not rely on contemporaries alone. This fine anthology goes back with Cahan and Yezeirska to the Yiddish background beginnigs of American- Jewish Literature. It includes a long list of important American - Jewish writers, and concludes with a group of contemporaries, Michelle Herman, Melvin Bukiet, Allegra Goodman, Helen Schulman.
It of course contains works by Bellow, Roth, Malamud, Ozick, and the finest of all Jewish storytellers, I.B. Singer.
Shapiro says that he sees 'literature' as an ongoing conversation and makes connection between various works which speak to each other.
Perhaps not all, but I am sure many of these works will speak to the reader in a persuasive and moving way.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very pleased!, December 5, 2010

By 

S. Kaminsky "Love a Love Story" (Illinois) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: American Jewish Fiction: A Century of Stories (Paperback)

Books were advertised as "very good condition" but they were brand new books at a wonderful price - terrific service!