The Modern Jewish Canon: A Journey Through Language and Culture
The Modern Jewish Canonis Ruth R. Wisse's attempt to establish a  set of criteria for a canon of Jewish literature (mainly prose fiction written  by Ashkenazi Jews and their descendants in the 20th century). This is a  fascinating, odd, and ambitious book, whose big ideas are ultimately less  interesting than its small observations. Wisse, who is a firm believer in the  moral power of fiction ("Even considering the dangers to the text that may  accompany a moral education, I would argue that the importance it ascribes to  words more than compensates for the occasional violence it does to them"),  designates "Jewish literature" as work that "tells the stories of the Jewish  people in the twentieth century ... best."The Modern Jewish Canonnever  provides a convincing, specific explanation of what exactly that means. As a  result, some passages of the book (such as Wisse's ejection of Marcel Proust  from her canon) seem irrationally parochial. Wisse's strongest readings concern  "how the language in which Jewishness is conceived affects the nature of the  literary work." She is highly sensitive to the different ways that Hebrew,  Yiddish, English, Russian, and German languages give rise to distinct kinds of  political, moral, religious, and literary sensibilities.--Michael Joseph  Gross--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.