Language:
English
Year of publication:
2001
Titel der Quelle:
American Literary History
Angaben zur Quelle:
13,3 (2001) 499-529
Keywords:
Styron, William,
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945), in literature
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) Influence
;
Jews Cultural assimilation
;
Antisemitism History 1945-
Abstract:
Contends that William Styron's novel "Sophie's Choice" disputes the view of the uniqueness of the Holocaust in favor of universalizing it. Links this approach to liberal antisemitism, which is traced back to the Enlightenment and also associated with contemporary left-liberalism. The latter is viewed as opposing both Jewish exclusivism and Jewishness itself. Claims that liberalism shifts attention to Hitler's non-Jewish victims. Styron is accused of blaming the Jews for ignoring the suffering of others. The novel's Jews are all assimilated, and Styron does not recognize the Jews as a people nor does he note liberalism's failure to prevent the Holocaust. Pp. 530-539 contain a response by Paul Breines, who denies that Jews have a single Holocaust-centered collective memory and rejects Myers' identification of assimilation with Auschwitz. Regarding Myers' concern about American antisemitism, Breines believes it is declining. Bryan H. Cheyette's response (pp. 540-543), to both Myers and Breines, contends that liberal anti-Judaism is an important idea, but a more complex one than Myers' crude formulations suggest. Stresses the usefulness of the concept for consideration of literary antisemitism.
Description / Table of Contents:
Breines, Paul. An assimilated Jew speaks; notes on "Jews without memory". 530-539.
Description / Table of Contents:
Cheyette, Bryan. Liberal anti-Judaism and the victims of modernity. [A reaction to Myers and Breines.] 540-543.
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