From Publishers Weekly
Tension wraps around the pages of Blumberg's memoir, an ardent intellectual autobiography by a woman in love with both Jewish texts and secular literature. Yet even more than the religious-secular divide symbolized by the
beit midrash (Jewish house of learning) and the university, the struggle over a woman's place in Judaism tears at her soul. The granddaughter of a Hebrew scholar, as a child Blumberg juggled an Orthodox education with participation in an egalitarian Conservative synagogue. She details at length a depressing year in Israel at a women's
michlalah (yeshiva), and then her introduction to university life, where she steeped herself in literature. Today, she has found a balance of sorts as a professor of English literature and Judaic studies at Michigan State University, but admits to still feeling a "sense of deep conflict" between tradition and secular ideas. Blumberg tries too hard to be poetic, and she risks losing some readers with assumptions of familiarity with Hebrew and Jewish texts. What her memoir elucidates, however, is the passion for study no matter what a person's gender: "If we studied we might come to see what... was truly important and what was trivial... we might come to see how God saw the world."
(Mar. 15) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Review
“Tension wraps around the pages of Blumberg’s memoir, an ardent intellectual autobiography by a woman in love with both Jewish texts and secular literature. . . . [H]er memoir elucidates . . . the passion for study no matter what a person’s gender.”—Publishers Weekly
(
Publishers Weekly 20070615)
“A book that deserves a serious readership: a memoir that reads like a poem, a voice that’s intelligent, brave, passionate and conversant.”—Sandee Brawarsky, Jewish Week
(
Jewish Week 20070424)
“This book is a union of letters and texts no less magnetic; to enter Ilana Blumberg’s houses of study is, invariably, to become ignited.”—Lilith
(Ilana Kurshan
Lilith 20070910)
"This is a poignant and perceptive account of how a highly educated Jewish woman managed to combine her extensive Jewish knowledge with her insights into English literature. Her journey toward mature awareness, so well described here, has many impediments and we are privileged to take this trip with her."—Morton I. Teicher, National Jewish Post & Opinion
(Morton I. Teicher
National Jewish Post & Opinion 20060821)
“In its originality of approach, vigor and beauty of style, and fierce honesty in naming and exploring uncharted territories, this book is a great contribution to women’s studies, autobiography and memoir, and Jewish studies.”—Mary Gordon, author of Final Payments and The Company of Women
(Mary Gordon )
“Ilana Blumberg captures the voice of a generation of religious Jewish women, in love with Judaism and in love with learning. Her book is the autobiography of the feminist era and its spiritual passions.”—Susannah Heschel, Eli Black Associate Professor of Jewish Studies at Dartmouth College and author of Abraham Geiger and the Jewish Jesus
(Susannah Heschel )
