Polish and Hebrew Literature and National Identity (original) (raw)
2013, Journal of Modern Jewish Studies
AI-generated Abstract
This research explores the interaction between Polish and Hebrew literature and its implications for national identity formation. Through a series of lectures presented by experts from various universities, the conference examines historical narratives, literary themes, and cultural exchanges that define Polish and Jewish identities. The analysis emphasizes the role of literature in shaping collective memory and national ideologies, shedding light on the complexities of identity in a post-Solidarity context.
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Little has so far been written about the perception of Poland and Poles in Ameri-can Jewish fiction. One could mention Thomas Gladsky's Princes, Peasants, and Other Polish Selves: Ethnicity in American Literature (1992), and Danusha V. Goska's recent study: Bieganski. The Brute Polak Stereotype: Its Role in Polish-Jewish Relations and American Popular Culture (2010). Therefore Aleksandrowicz-Pędich's new book is an important addition to a research topic scarcely touched by other scholars. The author's aim is to use " fiction as a resource towards a better understanding of collective mentality " (9). The belief that literature is reflective of identity and ethnicity is an overarch-ing thread guiding this project. Poland has only been an occasional focus of American fiction, but the emergence of ethnic literatures, especially written by prolific authors of Jewish descent, allowed a closer look at this distant country. Aleksandrowicz-Pędich's thorough and original study addresses a number of issues that demonstrate the complexity of Polish, Polish-Jewish, American-Jewish, and Israeli relations, in which historical facts often merge with common stereotypes. The study demonstrates how the concept of neighborhood applies both to the Old World and to America, with the sporadic presence of present-day Poles and Jews from Israel. Memory, being both persuasive and elusive, refers not only to recollections of an actual place called Poland, but also to certain customs , traditions, and practices, which are indicative of its presence in the American Jew-ish collective imagination. The author limits the scope of her research to texts written after World War II, which leaves the whole inventory of pre-Holocaust texts out of her discussion. An examination of Yiddish literature, for example, might prove crucial to understanding of present-day biases, since many of the American Jewish authors, discussed in the book had been influenced greatly by Yiddish writers. What comes from the analysis is the representation of Poland as the land of death – one big Jewish cemetery. This distorted image is the result of many historical and social factors that had an influence on Polish-Jewish relations. For American Jewish authors the memory of the Holocaust is overwhelming when it comes to Poland, and virtually annihilates more than 700 years of Jewish presence on the Polish soil. The pre-Holocaust Jewish Poland, if mentioned at all, is merely the nostalgic site of lost childhood. The importance of a vibrant and thriving Jewish life in Poland and the contributions of many assimilated Jews to Polish culture are largely omitted. The viability of these negative connotations is reinforced by historical traumas such as the history of pogroms and anti-Semitic sentiments that manifested themselves in Eastern Europe. Since, in the common American imagination, Poland is hardly discernible from its neighbors such as Russia and Ukraine, the experience of Jewish persecutions refers to the whole of Eastern Europe. Hence, the predominantly negative memories used to
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