On Changes in Jewish-American Writing

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled

Last week, as I wrote in a post published yesterday on The Forward‘s “Arty Semite” blog, I attended

a panel with an intriguing title: “Contemporary Jewish-American Writing: What Has Changed?” Equally interesting, especially when attention is being paid to gender (in)equities in publishing, the panel proposed to discuss how women writers, in particular, have influenced the shifts. Although the event didn’t address all of its anticipated questions, it left me considering how my own recent reading in Jewish books — works whose content reflects an engagement with identifiably Jewish subjects, such as Jewish history, prayer, ritual, language and Israel — may reflect some of those shifts and changes.

Please go on over to The Arty Semite to keep reading.

Jewish Literary Links for Shabbat

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled

Photo Credit: Reut Miryam Cohen
Every Friday morning My Machberet presents an assortment of Jewish literary news from around the Web.

  • Mark your calendar for next Wednesday’s Jewish Book Council/Jewcy Twitter Book Club. The featured guest is Jami Attenberg, author (most recently) of The Middlesteins.
  • Tablet magazine’s correspondent met recently with Shani Boianjiu in Israel; the result is this profile of the author of The People of Forever Are Not Afraid.
  • Crash course in the history of Jews in Russia, courtesy of Lea Zeltserman (responding, it must be said, to a problematic remark made by Shimon Peres).
  • Want to win a copy of the English translation of Eduardo Halfon’s The Polish Boxer? Read (and comment) here, by Sunday afternoon.
  • The latest issue of JewishFiction.net went live this week. From its editor, Dr. Nora Gold: “In this all-women’s issue, you will find 14 wonderful works of fiction, originally written in Yiddish, Spanish, Hebrew, and English, by authors originating from the Ukraine, Argentina, Israel, England, Canada, and the United States. And with Chanukah just around the corner, we bring you also a Chanukah story from Israel (“Roller Coaster”).” (I’m proud to say that I am the author of one of those 14 works!)
  • And last, but not least, I’m about a week into my gig as the Association of Jewish Libraries Writer-in-Residence. Come join the fun (and discussions) on the AJL Facebook page!

    • Shabbat shalom–and warm wishes for a joyous Hanukkah.

    Fun Facts About My Year in Jewish Books (2012 edition)

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled

    Last year, after I wrote here about “My Year in Jewish Books,” I offered a follow-up post on my “other” blog (which focuses on writing and publishing in the world beyond Jewish books), in which I analyzed the data I’d compiled about my recent reading. Out of curiosity, I decided to do something similar for this year’s Jewish reading record, which I posted on Tuesday.

    Here’s a breakdown of the 33 titles mentioned in Tuesday’s post: (more…)

    My Year in Jewish Books (2012 edition)

    by Erika Dreifus on
    6

    Last year, I found it useful (and kind of fun) to look back on “my year in Jewish books.” So, borrowing some of the same introductory wording, I’m going to attempt to do something similar for 2012.

    Reviewing my reading for 2012 (thank you, Goodreads!), I can see that I do not and would not ever limit my reading to “Jewish books” exclusively. (By the way, I define “Jewish books” as books with substantive Jewish content/themes. In my view, non-Jewish authors can write “Jewish books.” And Jewish authors can write books that don’t strike me as particularly Jewish. I read several of those books this year, too.)

    But this year, as usual, I did read quite a few books that fall within the “Jewish book” category. And, as an advocate for Jewish literature, I’m proud of that.

    Below, you will find these books presented in the order in which I read them. (more…)

    Jewish Literary Links for Shabbat

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled

    Photo Credit: Reut Miryam Cohen
    Every Friday morning My Machberet presents an assortment of Jewish literary news from around the Web.

  • Did you miss the Jewish Book Council/Jewcy Twitter Book Chat with Shani Boianjiu last week? Don’t worry: You can read the transcript.
  • And if you haven’t yet listened to the audio recording of Etgar Keret’s recent lecture and discussion at Baruch College of The City University of New York, you’ll find it here (audio file expires December 25!).
  • Attention, bloggers who cover Jewish books! The Jewish Book Carnival wants to hear from you (especially this month, when I’ll be hosting here on My Machberet). More info here.
  • Thoughts on poetry, teaching, and t’shuvah, from Richard Chess.
  • Still more about Philip Roth’s proclaimed retirement.
  • “I so wanted to hate it, but sad to say, Hope: A Tragedy is one of the funniest comic novels in several years—perhaps the funniest ever by a non-Jewish Jew.” So writes D.G. Myers in a review of Shalom Auslander’s novel.
  • Finally, please excuse the self-promotional portions of these links, but a couple of posts I want to be sure you didn’t miss this week, both here on My Machberet and on my “other” blog, Practicing Writing. First up: some thoughts on “Jewish fiction,” inspired by Tablet’s new fiction series. And then: some news from the Association of Jewish Libraries (and me!).

    • Shabbat shalom.