Teaching 20th century Jewish American Literature: Community, family, and displacement (original) (raw)

2013, UMI Dissertation Publishing

This thesis will articulate my philosophy of teaching a higher level undergraduate literature course while serving as a curriculum guide for other educators interested in teaching a course on 20th century Jewish American Literature. The curriculum I created for this thesis provides students with a comprehensive understanding of three major themes in Jewish American literature: family, community, and displacement. By exploring various texts where the characters and themes are specifically Jewish, students can then understand and discuss how various authors attempt to define the complexities of Jewish American identity in their works beyond the experience of the Holocaust biography protagonist. Before students understand Jewish identity in literary works, it is essential for students to explore the meaning of Jewish identity as a whole. Identity is a complex topic by itself, and it is even more complicated in terms of Jewish racial awareness. Exploring texts that truly make a difference in finding the meanings behind Jewish identity in terms of community, family, and displacement is an integral part of understanding the 20th century Jewish American culture through literature.

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