Contemporary Jewish American Writers and the Multicultural Dilemma

Furman explores the ambivalent relationship between multiculturalists and contemporary Jewish American literature and advocates a more inclusive and intellectually valid form than is currently practiced. He also offers a historical overview of Jewish American fiction to situate the contemporary writers in the continuum of Jewish American literary history.

Engaging and accessible, Furman’s work—the most comprehensive book of its kind—invokes the current themes and concerns of this generation: the viability of adopting an Orthodox or Hasidic life amid a secular America, a renewed interest in the vibrant Yiddish world of pre-Holocaust Europe, Israel, Jewish Feminism, and the Holocaust as perceived by the children of survivors. These themes have replaced the those of alienation and marginality, which have preoccupied the novelists of the golden age of Jewish American writing.