The Oxford Book of Jewish Stories

In this remarkably wide-ranging anthology, Ilan Stavans has collected the work of more than fifty notable Jewish writers from around the globe, weaving these diverse viewpoints and voices into a rich portrait of Jewish literary tradition.

The Oxford Book of Jewish Stories takes us from the mid-1800s right up to the present, encompassing the full spectrum of Jewish writing around the world. The variety of tales captured here is stunning. Readers will find stories such as A Yom Kippur Scandal by Sholem Aleichem, the father of Yiddish literature; Before the Law by Franz Kafka; Looking for Mr. Green by Saul Bellow; The Spinoza of Market Street by Isaac Bashevis Singer; and Midrash on Happiness by Grace Paley. Stavans has included many pieces by Americans, including such markedly different writers as Cynthia Ozick, Bernard Malamud, Moacyr Seliar, Stanley Elkin, Delmore Schwartz, Dan Jacobson, Francine Prose, Allegra Goodman, and Philip Roth. And here too are pieces from around the globe, by writers no less varied: Isaac Babel, Italo Svevo, Primo Levi, Elias Canetti, Amos Oz, and Danilo Kis. What emerges in the end is proof of an observation by Ba'al Makshoves--that the Jews may have many languages and a dozen echoes in foreign tongues, but only one literature. And it is one of the finest in the world.

The many marvelous tales that fill The Oxford Book of Jewish Stories affirm that a shared identity can exist without sterile uniformity--and that writers can engage their religious and cultural heritage without losing touch with those rich, complex ambiguities that inhabit the heart.


Author: Ilan Stavans
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 11/19/1998
Pages: 512
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.62lbs
Size: 8.76h x 5.87w x 1.54d
ISBN: 9780195110197

Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 09/15/1998 pg. 1327
Publishers Weekly 09/28/1998 pg. 72
Booklist 10/01/1998 pg. 308
Library Journal 11/01/1998

About the Author

Ilan Stavans is an Associate Professor of Spanish at Amherst College. He is an award winning critic and novelist, whose books in English include The Hispanic Condition and The Oxford Book of Latin American Essays. He has been a National Book Critics' Circle Award nominee and the recipient of the Latino Literature Prize. He lives in Amherst, Massachusetts.

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