UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations 1-1-2004 Joke-making Jews /jokes making Jews: Essays on humor and identity in American Jewish fiction Jason Paul Steed University of Nevada, Las Vegas Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/rtds Repository Citation Steed, Jason Paul, "Joke-making Jews /jokes making Jews: Essays on humor and identity in American Jewish fiction" (2004). UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations. 2577. http://dx.doi.org/10.25669/501a-0s8y This Dissertation is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by Digital Scholarship@UNLV with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this Dissertation in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/or on the work itself. This Dissertation has been accepted for inclusion in UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Scholarship@UNLV. For more information, please contact [email protected]. E56AYS(3NPnJNK%tAfü3E&ENTTrf n^/UÆEKKLANTEM%SHI%CTK%% by Jason Paul Steed Bachelor of Arts Brigham Young University 1995 Master of Fine Arts University of Idaho 1999 A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy in English Department of English College of Liberal Arts Graduate College University of Nevada, Las Vegas May 2004 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UMI Number: 3143390 Copyright 2004 by Steed, Jason Paul All rights reserved. INFORMATION TO USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleed-through, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. UMI UMI Microform 3143390 Copyright 2004 by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Copyright by Jason Paul Steed 2004 All Rights Reserved Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Dissertation Approval The Graduate College University of Nevada, Las Vegas November 12 .20 03 The Dissertation prepared by Jason Paul Steed Entitled Joke-Making Jews / Jokes Making Jews: Essays on Humor and Identity in American Jewish Fiction is approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy / Era/nzMaffon Coram/ffee CAafr Dean Graduafe CoZkgg ZMafzoM Commiffee Member EramzMafKg/ Commzffee Member Gradzzafe Codege EaczzZfy Represezzfafzoe 1017-52 u Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ABSTRACT Joke-Making Jews / Jokes Making Jews: Essays on Humor and Identity in American Jewish Fiction by Jason Paul Steed Dr. Joe McCullough, Examination Committee Chair Professor of English University of Nevada, Las Vegas Beginning from the premise that humor plays a prominent role in the construction of group and individual identities, as a social phenomenon and a simultaneously alienating and assimilating force, these essays explore and examine humor and its construction of American Jewish identity within the context of various works of American Jewish fiction. Though organized as "chapters," the essays do not build upon one another progressively, nor do they center on a unified thesis; rather, each is written to stand alone; however, each approaches the general subject of humor and identity in American Jewish fiction, and as a collection it is intended that the whole equal more than the sum of its parts. Following the Introduction, chapter two examines Abraham Cahan's Yekl and the relationship between humor and identity for the Jewish immigrant at the turn of the 20* century. Attention is also paid to the absences of humor, and how these are likewise capable of constructing identity. Ill Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Chapter three raises questions regarding the ethics of humor, particularly when dealing with the Holocaust. It examines Saul Bellow's The Bellarosa Connection under the guiding question of "What is to be gained by reading this novella?"—with specific attention being given to the connective function of the novella's humor. Bernard Malamud's God's Grace is examined in chapter four, which seeks to read the novel as a retelling of an old Jewish joke, in the form of the story of Abraham and Isaac; Malamud's reversal of the story, and his use of absurdist humor, is read as an affirmation of humanism and Jewish identity. Chapter five examines the humor of Philip Roth and Woody Allen, as representatives of second-generation anxieties about Jewish identity in America. Then, chapters six and seven explore two possible responses to these anxieties. Chapter six looks at the works of the Coen brothers and asserts that Jewishness has been deliberately absented from their narratives; chapter seven looks at the works of Allegra Goodman and Nathan Englander and asserts that, in their fiction, a new, anxiety-free Jewish Self is being constructed, with humor playing a prominent role in this postassimüationism. IV Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT.................................................................................................................................. iü ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.........................................................................................................vi CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION............................................................................................... 1 I. H um or .................................................................................................................. 1 IL Humor and Identity...........................................................................................8 III. Jewish Humor and Identity ............................................................................10 IV. The Essays......................................................................................................... 15 CHAPTER 2 ABRAHAM CAHAN'S YEKL........................................................................19 CHAPTER 3 SAUL BELLOW'S THE BELLAROSA CONNECTION..............................38 I. The Holocaust ...................................................................................................38 II. The Novella .......................................................................................................47 III. The Connection .................................................................................................58 CHAPTER 4 BERNARD MALAMUD'S GOD'S GRACE..................................................63 CHAPTER 5 PHILIP ROTH AND WOODY ALLEN ...........................................84 I. Yekl's Children ......................... 84 II. Allen's Hostage Crisis................ 88 III. Roth's Subversion of the Jews .........................................................................96 CHAPTER 6 THE COEN BROTHERS............................ 109 I. Jewish? .............................................................................................................109 II. Appearances... .................................................................................................I l l III. The Old Country .............................................................................................117 TV. Disappearances ...............................................................................................128 V. Living in the Past ............................................. 133 CHAPTER 7 ALLEGRA GOODMAN AND NATHAN ENGLANDER...................... 140 CHAPTERS EPILOGUE......................................................................................................161 BIBLIOGRAPHY........................................................................................................................ 164 VITA............................................................................ 170 V Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Many thanks are due to Drs. Walter Hesford, Dan Walden, and Joe McCullough, each of whom contributed significantly to the development of my interest in and study of this subject. Thanks are also due to Drs. John Unrue, Bob Dodge, Ron McFarland, Mary Clearman Blew, Lance Olsen, and Gloria Cronin, for their various influences and encouragement. And the utmost thanks and appreciation belong to my wife, Michele, without whom none of this would matter. Two of these essays appear in slightly different form, and under different titles, in the following publications: