Modern Jewish Popular Literatures: Beyond the U.S.

Recent investigations into American Jewish popular literature and culture
have highlighted both the ³inside² interest of American Jews to subvert or
recontextualize Jewish identity, and the ³outside² interest of the culture
industries in exploiting yet another profitable brand of urban youth
culture.

But less explored are the Jewish popular literatures that developed in
Eastern and Western Europe, in Israel and the Middle East, and among
Orthodox as well as secular Jews upon their entrance into modernity. Their
extensive history offers a much-needed transnational context for the
contemporary American Jewish scene.

This proposed panel invites papers that consider these popular literatures,
their form and content (formula stories, cookbooks, journalism, youth
publications, etc.), and the cultural work they do.

Possible topics include, but are not limited to, how they mediate between
Jewish culture and gentile society, or between Jewish interpretive
communities; the ways in which they speak for and to Jewish enclave
cultures; their reception and collection; their reflection of the literary
and cultural marketplace; how they negotiate the relation between capital
and Jewish/Israeli vernacular or oppositional cultures; and their role in
constructing and disseminating youth culture.

Please send a 250 word abstract and a brief CV by March 15 to Laurence Roth
(roth @susqu.edu).

Laurence Roth
Dept. of English & Creative Writing
Susquehanna University
514 University Avenue
Selinsgrove, PA 17870-1001

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Received on Tue Feb 14 2006 - 11:11:13 EST