TY  - BOOK
AU  - Kirsch, Adam
PY  - 2020
DA  - 2020//
TI  - blessing and the curse: the Jewish people and their books in the twentieth century
ET  - First edition
PB  - W. W. Norton & Company
CY  - New York
KW  - Jewish literature
KW  - History and criticism
KW  - Judaism
AB  - "An erudite and accessible survey of Jewish life and culture in the twentieth century, as reflected in seminal texts. Following The People and the Books, which "covers more than 2,500 years of highly variegated Jewish cultural expression" (Robert Alter, New York Times), formidable and perceptive literary critic Adam Kirsch now turns to the salient works of modern Jewish thought. From the vast emigration of Jews out of Eastern Europe to the Holocaust to the creation of Israel, the twentieth century transformed Jewish life. This was true, also, of writing: the novels, plays, poems, and memoirs of Jewish writers provided intimate access to new worlds of experience. Here Kirsch navigates four themes that shaped the twentieth century in Jewish literature and culture: Europe, America, Israel, and the endeavor to reconfigure Judaism as a modern faith. Reading writers ranging from Franz Kafka to Philip Roth, Anne Frank to Tony Kushner, Hannah Arendt to Judith Plaskow, Kirsch's scope is wide and his observations diverse. Insightful and engaging, The Blessing and the Curse brings the Jewish experience vividly to life"--
SN  - 9780393652406
LA  - English
N1  - Adam Kirsch
ID  - 1693649802
ER  -