Jewish Wry
Jewish Wry

Author: Sarah Blacher Cohen

Publisher: Wayne State University Press

Published: 1990

Total Pages: 260

ISBN-13: 9780814323663

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When the Jews of Eastern Europe came to the United States in the 19th century, they brought with them their own special humor. Developed in response to the dissonant reality of their lives, their self-critical humor served as a source of salvation, enabling them to endure a painful history with a sense of power. In America, the marginal status of immigrant Jews prompted them to use humor a a defense, exaggerating or mocking their ethnicity as events dictated. Jewish Wry examines the development of Jewish humor in a series of essays on topics that range from Sholom Aleichem's humor to Jewish comediennes through to the humor of Philip Roth. This important book offers enjoyable reading as well as a significant and scholarly contribution to the field.

Jewish Humor
Jewish Humor

Author: Avner Ziv

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-09-08

Total Pages: 183

ISBN-13: 1351510932

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The thirteen chapters in this book are derived from the First International Conference on Jewish Humor held at Tel-Aviv University. The authors are scientists from the areas of literature, linguistics, sociology, psychology, history, communications, the theater, and Jewish studies. They all try to understand different aspects of Jewish humor, and they evoke associations, of a local-logical nature, with Jewish tradition. This compilation reflects the first interdisciplinary approach to Jewish humor. The chapters are arranged in four parts. The first section relates to humor as a way of coping with Jewish identity. Joseph Dorinson's chapter underscores the dilemma facing Jewish comedians in the United States. These comics try to assimilate into American culture, but without giving up their Jewish identity. The second section of the book deals with a central function of humor--aggression. Christie Davies makes a clear distinction between jokes that present the Jew as a victim of anti-Semitic attacks and those in which the approach is not aggressive. The third part focuses on humor in the Jewish tradition. Lawrence E. Mintz writes about jokes involving Jewish and Christian clergymen. The last part of the book deals with humor in Israel. David Alexander talks about the development of satire in Israel. Other chapters and contributors include: -Psycho-Social Aspects of Jewish Humor in Israel and in the Diaspora- by Avner Ziv; -Humor and Sexism: The Case of the Jewish Joke- by Esther Fuchs; -Halachic Issues as Satirical Elements in Nineteenth Century Hebrew Literature- by Yehuda Friedlander; -Do Jews in Israel still laugh at themselves?- by O. Nevo; and -Political Caricature as a Reflection of Israel's Development- by Kariel Gardosh. Each chapter in this volume paves the way for understanding the many facets of Jewish humor. This book will be immensely enjoyable and informative for sociologists, psychologists, and scholars of Judaic studies.

American Jewish Filmmakers
American Jewish Filmmakers

Author: David Desser

Publisher: University of Illinois Press

Published: 2023-04-17

Total Pages: 364

ISBN-13: 0252055160

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Woody Allen, Mel Brooks, Sidney Lumet, and Paul Mazursky, all sons of East European Jews, remain among the most prominent contemporary American film directors. In this revised, updated second edition of American Jewish Filmmakers, David Desser and Lester D. Friedman demonstrate how the Jewish experience gives rise to an intimately linked series of issues in the films of these and other significant Jewish directors. The effects of the Holocaust linger, both in gripping dramatic form (Mazursky's Enemies, a Love Story) and in black comedy (Brooks's The Producers). In his trilogy consisting of Serpico, Prince of the City, and Q&A, Lumet focuses on the failure of society's institutions to deliver social justice. Woody Allen portrays urban life and family relationships (Manhattan and Hannah and Her Sisters), sometimes with a nostalgic twist (Radio Days). This edition concludes with a newly written discussion of the careers of other prominent Jewish filmmakers such as Steven Spielberg, Barry Levinson, Brian Singer, and Darren Aronofsky.

Jews and Humor
Jews and Humor

Author: Leonard Jay Greenspoon

Publisher: Purdue University Press

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 256

ISBN-13: 1557535973

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"Proceedings of the twenty-second annual symposium of the Klutznick Chair in Jewish Civilization - Harris Center for Judaic Studies, October 25-26, 2009" -- P. [i].

Philip Roth and the Jews
Philip Roth and the Jews

Author: Alan Cooper

Publisher: State University of New York Press

Published: 2012-02-01

Total Pages: 336

ISBN-13: 0791499642

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In a style richly accessible to the general reader, this book presents Roth's secular Jewishness, with its own mysteries and humor, as most representative of the American Jewish experience. Thirty years into his career as a writer, Philip Roth remains known to most readers as a self-hating Jew or a flawed would-be comic. Philip Roth and the Jews shows Roth the ironist, the master of absurdity, for whom twentieth-century America and modern Jewish history resonate with each other's signal accomplishments and anxieties. Roth's "egoism" is a persona, an abashed moralist discomfited by the world. Cooper shows that in the "Jewish" works Roth has taken the pulse of America and read the pressures of the world. Modernism, the universal tug for individual sovereignty and against tribal definition, is an issue everywhere. Roth's own odyssey of betrayal, loss, and return—the pattern of the Jewish writer in the last 200 years—is so shaped by his origins that Roth has carried his home and neighborhood into the corners of the earth and thus never left them.

Jewish Comedy: A Serious History
Jewish Comedy: A Serious History

Author: Jeremy Dauber

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Published: 2017-10-31

Total Pages: 198

ISBN-13: 0393247880

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Finalist for the National Jewish Book Award “Dauber deftly surveys the whole recorded history of Jewish humour.” —Economist In a major work of scholarship that explores the funny side of some very serious business (and vice versa), Jeremy Dauber examines the origins of Jewish comedy and its development from biblical times to the age of Twitter. Organizing Jewish comedy into “seven strands”—including the satirical, the witty, and the vulgar—he traces the ways Jewish comedy has mirrored, and sometimes even shaped, the course of Jewish history. Dauber also explores the classic works of such masters of Jewish comedy as Sholem Aleichem, Isaac Babel, Franz Kafka, the Marx Brothers, Woody Allen, Joan Rivers, Philip Roth, Mel Brooks, Sarah Silverman, Jon Stewart, and Larry David, among many others.

Jewish Wry and Other Slices of Life
Jewish Wry and Other Slices of Life

Author: Martha Reingold

Publisher:

Published: 2015-11-15

Total Pages: 184

ISBN-13: 9780692538005

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This collection of short stories, sketches, and essays is Martha Reingold's first published book. She has included three chapters of "Russia-shuna," a memoir dealing with her memories of Jewish holidays, and the first section of a memoir/women's studies/computer history book. At 80 years of age, she quips, "I've had writer's block for over 75 years." Ms. Reingold's stories are written in that wry, comic style indigenous to Brooklyn - where she comes from and where her heart still lives. By the way, she doesn't like to be called by her title "Ms." or by the journalistic "Reingold." She's just Martha who was born a Mintz and lived through decades of change from the Depression, through WWII, the new mysterious field of computer software design ... and so on up to the present distressing time. Her writing reflects that. This small volume contains a wealth of stories, often humorous, occasionally hilarious, and now and then sad. Her neurotic Brooklyn self is evident all the way from "Nature vs. Nurture" through "My Red A-Line Dress." Her dedication and love of family and commitment to American ideals can be seen in the serious pieces you'll find in this book. "Jewish Wry and Other Slices of Life" is a little gem. Women of all ages will love it and it may even touch the hearts of some men here and there. Martha lives in West Hartford, Connecticut with Tootsie, her beautiful calico cat named after her mother Harriet. "Tootsie" was the loving name her father had for her mother. Martha is currently preparing her second collection of short works entitled "More Slices of Life." And then it's on to completing her memoirs ... whatever they may be. After a long life of people watching and political angst, she has views on everything and is willing to share them at the drop of a hat.

Neil Simon
Neil Simon

Author: Gary Konas

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2020-11-25

Total Pages: 258

ISBN-13: 1135598851

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First Published in 1997.The 16 essays and interviews in this volume explore the background and works of Neil Simon, the most successful playwright in American history. Several of the entries trace Simon's Jewish heritage and its influence on his plays. Although Simon is best known as a writer of a remarkable series of hit Broadway comedies, the contributors to this book have identified a number of "serious" recurring themes in his work, suggesting that a reassessment of the playwright as a dramatist is appropriate. Three interviews with Simon and his longtime producer yield valuable facts about the playwright that will, along with the critical essays, aid the scholar seeking new insights into contemporary American drama in general and Neil Simon in particular.