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Notes from Around the Web: Jewish Literary Links for Shabbat

by Erika Dreifus on
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Just a few literary links to share with you:

  • Publishers Weekly provides an overview of the Jerusalem International Book Fair. (See also my Monday post.)
  • Sweet essay on Tablet about one American student’s experience studying in Israel at the same time as Natalie Portman.
  • Speaking of Tablet, look who’s talking about Quiet Americans this week!
  • From The Jewish Week: A fascinating article by Miriam Intrator on the postwar fate of “Europe’s salvaged Jewish libraries.” And an equally superb piece by Paul Zakrzewski examines the current state of Jewish memoirs.
  • Next week will be a challenging one for our friend, Jewish Muse. Here’s why.
  • The next Jewish Book Council Twitter Book Club, featuring author Andrew Winer and his novel, The Marriage Artist, is scheduled for Wednesday, March 2. Details here.

Shabbat shalom!

May Event in D.C.—Family Stories: Daughters, Mothers, and Bubbes

by Erika Dreifus on
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On Sunday, I was fortunate to visit the National Museum of American Jewish Military History, a marvelous gem of a place near Dupont Circle in Washington. I was there to give a reading from my new short-story collection, Quiet Americans, but I also had time to tour the exhibitions, and I’m so glad that I did.

While I was there, I learned about a forthcoming event that may be of interest to some of you:

The National Museum of American Jewish Military History and The Washington DC Jewish Community Center present:

Family Stories: Daughters, Mothers, and Bubbes
Sunday May 1, 2011, 1pm-5pm

Are you a photographer, an artist, a filmmaker? A writer or storyteller? A stand-up comedian, dancer, or singer? Always wanted to try one of these? Come show off your talents!

On May 1, the museum and the Washington, DC Jewish Community Center will devote this special afternoon to some of the most important women in our lives. We invite you to portray your beloved female relatives through a skit, scrapbook, video, song and dance routine, or whatever your imagination can conjure.

For more details and submission information, please visit the NMAJMH website.

As Promised: Handout for “Beyond Bagels & Lox: Jewish-American Fiction in the 21st Century”

by Erika Dreifus on
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Last night I returned from an exhilarating several days in Washington, where I attended the annual conference of the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) and visited the National Museum of American Jewish Military History for a reading from Quiet Americans. I have so much to share with you about this trip, but for the moment, I want to focus on last Thursday’s conference panel: “Beyond Bagels & Lox: Jewish-American Fiction in the 21st Century,” which was listed in the conference program as follows:

Beyond Bagels and Lox: Jewish-American Fiction in the 21st Century. (Erika Dreifus, Andrew Furman, Kevin Haworth, Margot Singer, Anna Solomon) Jewish-American fiction has long been seen as a literature of emigration from the shtetl, assimilationist angst, and overprotective parents. But what’s nu? How do Americans born decades after the Holocaust and the birth of the State of Israel deal with those complex subjects in fiction? Who are the new Jewish immigrant characters? How does American Jewry’s more than 350-year history inspire plot/setting? And how are writers today influenced by Judaism’s rich multilingual and spiritual legacy?

We were assigned a fairly large meeting room, and we were delighted to see that the room was packed. In fact, we ran out of the handouts we’d brought with us, so I promised to post the handout online. Please click here for the PDF. As noted on the handout, our reading list is utterly incomplete–as would be any single-page, double-sided document of this sort. But we think that the handout can be useful nonetheless.

A round of thanks to my amazing co-panelists, and to our interested and engaged audience.

American Jewish Fiction: Strange & Surprising Stories

by Erika Dreifus on
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Via the Jewish Book Council, I’ve learned of an exciting event coming up in New York City on Sunday afternoon, February 13. “American Jewish Fiction: Strange and Surprising Stories,” with guest speaker Josh Lambert, will be presented by the Jewish Historical Society of New York. (There will be a $5 admission charge.)

American novels have featured Jewish characters for over a century, and these books tell strange and surprising stories about the experiences of American Jews. What sort of books should be considered Jewish American novels? What are the common narratives and tropes of such works of fiction, and why are they repeated so frequently in the literature of the United States? Who writes these books, and for what audiences? Focusing on some of the earliest and most unusual novels in the American Jewish tradition, and highlighting a few lost gems along the way, this lecture will survey the history of American Jewish fiction and discuss its achievements and possibilities.

For more event details, and Josh Lambert’s very impressive bio, please click here.

Jewish Literary Links: Shavua Tov Edition

by Erika Dreifus on
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Normally, I post my link compilations on Friday morning, before Shabbat. But this week, I made so many worthy discoveries after I prepared the Friday post that I am compelled to present a second batch. Let’s consider it the “Shavua Tov” edition!

  • First, as mentioned here yesterday, The Forward has announced a poetry contest commemorating the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire.
  • Also from The Forward (via the Arty Semite blog): three poems by Alicia Ostriker.
  • And The Forward‘s Arty Semite blog has also given us this gem: an update on author Imre Kertész. NB: Benjamin Ivry’s post is in English, but if you understand Hungarian or French, you’ll also be able to appreciate the video.
  • One reason I found the Kertész post so striking is that I’ve recently finished reading Ruth Franklin’s sharp new book, A Thousand Darknesses: Lies and Truth in Holocaust Fiction, which features a chapter devoted to the Hungarian Nobel literature laureate. Franklin will be interviewed by James Young at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City on Wednesday, January 12. Details about the event can be found online.
  • Big thanks to the Jewish Women’s Archive for compiling the #JWA100, a list of more than 100 Jewish women who tweet.
  • Finally, on Twitter and elsewhere, many of us are sending healing thoughts to Debbie Friedman, the acclaimed Jewish songwriter who has been hospitalized in serious condition. See the URJ homepage for more information. And, returning to The Forward, you can read about efforts and prayers in her honor.