JewishAmericanWritingandWorldLiterature:MaybetoMillions,MaybetoNobodystudiesJewishAmericanwriters’relationshipswiththeideaofworldliterature.WriterssuchasSholemAsch,JacobGlatstein,IsaacBashevisSinger,AnnaMargolin,SaulBellow,andGracePaleyallrespondedtoademandtowritebeyondlocalJewishandAmericanaudiencesandtowardtheworld,asaglobalmarketandasatransnationalideal.Beyondfameandglobalcirculation,worldliteratureholdsupthepromiseoflegibility,inwhichathreatenedoriginbecomesthesiteforredemptiveliterarycreativity.Butthispromiseinevitablyremainsunfulfilled,aswritersstruggletobalancepotentialuniversalachievementswithuntranslatablerealities,renderingimpossibleanycompletearrivalintheUSandintheworld.TheworkexaminedinthisstudywasdeeplyinformedbyanintimateconnectiontoYiddish,aJewishvernacularwithitsownglobalnetworkandinstitutionalambitions.JewishAmericanWritingandWorldLiteraturetrackstheattemptsandfailures,throughtranslation,tofindahomeforJewishvernacularityintheinstitutionofworldliterature.TheexplorationofthetranslationaluncertaintyofJewishAmericanwritingjoinspostcolonialcritiquesofUSandworldliteratureandchallengesEurocentricandAnglo-Americanparadigmsofliterarystudy.InbringingintoconversationthefieldsofYiddishstudies,AmericanStudies,andworldliteraturetheory,JewishAmericanWritingandWorldLiterature:MaybetoMillions,MaybetoNobodyproposesanewapproachtothestudyofmodernJewishliteraturesandtheirimplicationwithinglobalempiresofculture.
WRITING AMERICAN LITERATURE WORLD
