Growing Up Ethnic: Nationalism and the Bildungsroman in African American and Jewish American FictionUniversity of Iowa Press, 1. 4. 2005 - Počet stran: 218 Growing Up Ethnic examines the presence of literary similarities between African American and Jewish American coming-of-age stories in the first half of the twentieth century; often these similarities exceed what could be explained by sociohistorical correspondences alone. Martin Japtok argues that these similarities result from the way both African American and Jewish American authors have conceptualized their "ethnic situation." The issue of "race" and its social repercussions certainly defy any easy comparisons. However, the fact that the ethnic situations are far from identical in the case of these two groups only highlights the striking thematic correspondences in how a number of African American and Jewish American coming-of-age stories construct ethnicity. Japtok studies three pairs of novels--James Weldon Johnson's Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man and Samuel Ornitz's Haunch, Paunch and Jowl, Jessie Fauset's Plum Bun and Edna Ferber's Fanny Herself, and Paule Marshall's Brown Girl, Brownstones and Anzia Yezierska's Bread Giver--and argues that the similarities can be explained with reference to mainly two factors, ultimately intertwined: cultural nationalism and the Bildungsroman genre. Growing Up Ethnic shows that the parallel configurations in the novels, which often see ethnicity in terms of spirituality, as inherent artistic ability, and as communal responsibility, are rooted in nationalist ideology. However, due to the authors' generic choice--the Bildungsroman--the tendency to view ethnicity through the rhetorical lens of communalism and spiritual essence runs head-on into the individualist assumptions of the protagonist-centered Bildungsroman. The negotiations between these ideological counterpoints characterize the novels and reflect and refract the intellectual ferment of their time. This fresh look at ethnic American literatures in the context of cultural nationalism and the Bildungsroman will be of great interest to students and scholars of literary and race studies. |
Obsah
Chapter I | 18 |
Art | 71 |
Ethnic Nationalism and Ethnic Literary | 134 |
Autorská práva | |
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African Amer African American American and Jewish Angela anti-Semitism appears artistic Autobiography autobiography and Bildungsroman Barbadian becomes Bildung Bildungsroman Bread Givers Brown Girl Brownstones character choice claim color conceptualizations of ethnicity cultural nationalism defined depict discussed dominant essentialism essentialist Esther ethnic authors ethnic community ethnic culture ethnic group ethnic nationalism ethnic solidarity Eugenia Collier European Ex-Coloured Fanny's father Fauset Ferber genre Harlem Haunch heritage ican idealism identity ideology immigrant individualism individualist James Weldon James Weldon Johnson Jewish American Jews Johnson Judaism kind literary Lower East Side mainstream materialism Meyer Hirsch moral mother narrator narrator's nationalist nicity novel Ornitz passing Paunch and Jowl Plum Bun Press protagonists race racial racism rejection relationship role Samuel Ornitz Sara Sara's says selfishness Selina Silla similar social society Sollors spiritual strategy symbolic tion traditional transethnic twentieth century University W. E. B. Du Bois women Yezierska York Zionism