Salvage Poetics: Post-Holocaust American Jewish Folk Ethnographies

This book explores how American Jewish post-Holocaust writers, scholars, and editors adapted pre-Holocaust works, such as Yiddish fiction and documentary photography, for popular consumption by American Jews in the post-Holocaust decades. It argues that these texts served to help clarify the role of East European Jewish identity in the construction of a post-Holocaust American one. S. Ansky's ethnographic expedition and Martin Buber's adaptation of Hasidic tales are presented as examples of how literary adaptations and mediations create opportunities for the creation of folk ethnographic hybrid texts. Salvage Poetics looks at classical texts of the American Jewish experience in the second half of the twentieth century, such as Maurice Samuel's The World of Sholem Aleichem (1944), Abraham Joshua Heschel's The Earth Is the Lord's (1950), Elizabeth Herzog and Mark Zborowski's Life Is with People (1952), Lucy Dawidowicz's The Golden Tradition (1967), and Roman Vishniac's A Vanished World (1983). It is particularly attentive to how literary scholars deploy the notion of ethnography in their readings of literature in languages and/or cultures that are considered dead or dying and how their definition of an ethnographic literary text speaks to and enhances the scientific discipline of ethnography.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 402 pages
Publication date: 10 October 2023
Publisher: Wayne State University Press

This captivating volume delves into the fascinating ways in which American Jewish post-Holocaust writers, scholars, and editors have reimagined pre-Holocaust works, such as Yiddish fiction and documentary photography, for the broader American Jewish audience in the post-Holocaust decades. Through meticulous analysis, author Jelen argues that these texts played a crucial role in shaping the understanding of East European Jewish identity within the context of post-Holocaust American society.

Jelen's exploration spans a wide range of hybrid texts, those that straddle the boundaries between ethnography and art, offering a rich tapestry of insights. By tracing the gradual shift from verbal to visual Jewish literacy among Jewish Americans after the Holocaust, she sheds light on the evolving cultural landscape.

To contextualize this shift, the book presents S. Ansky's ethnographic expedition (1912–1914) and Martin Buber's adaptation and compilation of Hasidic tales (1906–1935). These examples serve as valuable lenses through which to examine the role of an ethnographic consciousness in modern Jewish experience, as well as the ways in which literary adaptations and mediations create opportunities for the creation of folk ethnographic hybrid texts.

Salvage Poetics takes a deep dive into classical texts of the American Jewish experience in the second half of the twentieth century. It explores a diverse array of works, including Maurice Samuel's The World of Sholem Aleichem (1944), Abraham Joshua Heschel's The Earth Is the Lord's (1950), Elizabeth Herzog and Mark Zborowski's Life Is with People (1952), Lucy Dawidowicz's The Golden Tradition (1967), and Roman Vishniac's A Vanished World (1983). These texts, alongside others that consider the symbiotic relationship between pre-Holocaust aesthetic artifacts and their postwar reframings and reconsiderations, provide a rich tapestry of insights into the evolving American Jewish identity.

One of the key themes of Salvage Poetics is the way in which literary scholars deploy the notion of ethnography in their readings of literature in languages and/or cultures that are considered dead or dying. The author examines how these scholars define an ethnographic literary text and how their interpretations shed light on the complex interplay between cultural preservation and artistic innovation.

In conclusion, this volume is a must-read for anyone interested in the intersection of literature, culture, and identity. Through its insightful analysis and compelling narratives, Salvage Poetics offers a fresh perspective on the ways in which pre-Holocaust works have been reimagined and repurposed in the post-Holocaust era, contributing to the rich tapestry of American Jewish history and culture.

Weight: 588g
Dimension: 152 x 228 x 25 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780814350812