PJAS 11 Spring-7
Jacek Partyka
Between Nostalgia and Self-Hatred: The Problem of Identity in Cynthia Ozick’s The Shawl
Polish Journal for American Studies, vol. 11 (Spring 2017), pp. 85-98
Abstract: Drawing on theoretical works by Stuart E. Rosenberg, Sander L. Gilman and Svetlana Boym, the article reconsiders Cynthia Ozick’s diptych The Shawl as an instance of narrative that problematizes the notion of Jewishness in the twentieth century in the USA and pre-WW II Poland. It is argued that the key concepts of nostalgia and self-hatred offer a new perspective on the interpretation of a text that for almost forty years has been treated as a staple work in the cannon of American Holocaust fiction.
Keywords: American Jewish identity, assimilation, the Holocaust, nostalgia, Jewish self-hatred
DOI: 10.7311/PJAS.11/1/2017.07