DOCSLIB.ORG

The Source: a Critical Analysis ·· ·· Science.· -- Slave Or Master? > ..•

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Source: a Critical Analysis ·· ·· Science.· -- Slave Or Master? > ..• rt-tE. · .. .· .... A Dissident Speaks ··Out · A.Statement by Harav Mordecai Giftet > In .Retrospect ·· · ·. The Synagogue Courtcil ·· • ····· From Mir to Shanghai . .· The Source: A Critical Analysis ·· ·· Science.· -- Slave or Master? > ..•.. Time For A Change ..• . .. · . Israel iJ igest ·· .· Anti-Jewish or Anti-Torah? .· . JVhat ihey are saying in the ]eivish pt·est ... :Jle /!/ltf;{':J£e/'J ~ :Jle /euM.°JA OtenJe/' a/'e_,4/eaJecl lo t~/'m?ou dal a Jttkc/'Jiilion AaJ ken enle/'ecl t/t?Ott/' nam.e aJ de?~~ The Jewish Observer / 5 Beekman Street / New York, N. Y. 10038 We would like to enter your name on some of our gift cards, and send them to your friends and relatives with an annual subscription Here is our special offer: 1 gift subscr~pt~on ....................... $ 5.00 2 gift subscriptions ....................... 8.50 3 gift subscriptions ........................ only 12.00 {add $1.00 for each overseas subscription) Give your friends a meaningful, lasting gift . and help us increase the number of our readers. Clip this coupon, attach your check, and mail them now. The Jewish Observer / 5 Beekman Street / New York, N. Y. 10038 Friends: Please send gift subscriptions and an announcement card to the following: Name ...... ................................. Address., .. CHy... .................... State ... ................... ZipNo........ Name ........... Address ..... City........ ..... .. ...................................... State ....... .. ................................... Zip No ........................... Name... ................................. Address ... CHy.... .. ...... .. ...................... State ..... ..................... Zip No ...................... ~ .... (please make your own list for additional names) I enclose $.... .... ............. 0 Please bill me. My name is: .... .. ............................. Address....... CHy ...... .............................................................................................................................. State ... .. ........................ Zip No..................................... THE JEWISH . · . OBSERVER In this issue ... · IN RETROSPECT ••• a~ analysi.<: of the counter-reaction to the recent protests against Orthodox participation in the Synagogue Council, and an examination of some of the fictions and distortions that came in its wake .................................... ·A DISSIDENT SPEAKS OUT , • • We are pleased to publish a definitive statement on Synagogue Council by the distin­ guished Telsher Rosh Yeshiva, RAnBI MORDECAI GIFTER ......... FROM MIR TO SHANGHAI ••• recollections of life in the Mirer Yeshiva in Shanghai during the war years, by a then-talmid of Mir, now a well-known educator, RABBI CHUNA HERZMAN Ta:E JEWISH OBSERVER is published monthly, except July and August, by the Agudath Israel of America, THE SOURCE •• , RADBI MORRIS BEKRiTSKY, in his firsti:dn­ S Beekman Street, New York, N . Y. 10038. Second class tribution to T JO, offers a critical analysis of the best-selling postage paid at New York, N. Y. novel, "The Source" by James Michener ............................................... Subscription: $5.00 per year; single copy: 50¢. Printed in the U.S.A. SCIENCE~LAVE OR MASTER? •.. asks PROF. LEO LEVI, in a profound, yet clearly-stated exposition of the sphere, relia­ bility, and nature of science in a Torah perspective. He con­ Editorial· Board cludes that science must be used to further the goals and ....·DR. ERNST L. BODENHEIMER Chairman purposes of Torah ................................................................................................... RABBI NATHAN BULMAN RABBI JOSEPH ELIAS TIME FoR A CHANGE • • ; says DK SEYMOUR GLICK, in the JOSEPH FRIEDENSON attitudes of some yeshivos and yeshiva educators toward RABBI MOSHE SHERER science and scientists. He warns that in rejecting these atti­ ·•Advertising Manager tudes of their teachers, students may also reject all that their . RABBI SYSHB HESCHEL teachers have to say ............................................................................................... Managing Editor RABBI YAAKOV JACOBS ISRAEL DIGEST •• • In this new TJO feature, MENACHEM GREENBERG brings you up-to-date on some recent devel- JEWISH OBSERVER does not opments and concerns in Israel ................................................................. assume responsibility for the Kasbrus of any product or service WHAT THEY ARE SAYING IN THE JEWISH PRESS •.• a selection ··advertised in its pages. of clippings from various sources reflecting some of the currents in American Jewish life ................................................................. JAN. 1967 VoL. IV, No. 1 ..... @) SECOND LOOKS • • • Some recent thinking on antisemitism as reflected in recent publications ...................................................................;,; .. In Retrospect------------ The Synagogue Council WE ARE RELUCTANT-but we cannot shirk our respons­ Commission has had the matter under consideration for ibility-to write a postscript to the recent Synagogue the past eleven years and had not issued a decision.* Council dinner. This event and its attendant circum­ The Cheshvan 10 (October 24) statement was there­ stances have left a fateful heritage of implications and fore an unwelcome reminder, and there ensued a merci­ consequences for the future of American Jewry-and, less campaign to counter its effect. in particular, Torah Jewry-which must be faced. First, the Day-Morning Journal printed a news Though we foresaw some of them, and therefore raised release, received from the public relations department our voice in advance of the event, we did not foresee of Yeshiva University, stating that a number of Rab­ how soon and to what extent we would reap its bitter bonim and Roshei Yeshiva formally called on Rabbi harvest. It remains now for us to take stock of what Belkin to urge him to attend the dinner. No names were has happened, praying that the necessary lessons will, given in the news release. We challenge the public re­ after all, be drawn from it. lations office of YU to remedy this omission-informa­ tion from the faculty indicates that such an incident Nullification of Daas Hatorah never took place. Next, word was spread that at least some of the On October 24, 1966 a letter was issued by four signers of the letter never actually signed it. This was outstanding Roshei Yeshiva, deploring the calamity not only stated from at least one well-known pulpit represented by the "fatal partnership" of the "three but even appeared in print: seminaries of American Jewry" at the forthcoming It must be noted that H arav H agaon Synagogue Conncil dinner. Actually this statement Rav Moshe Feinstein Shlitah, whose should not have come as a surprise; it introduced noth­ name appears on this Kol Koreh ing new-it was a logical consequence of the p'sak din has, we are told, never seen its issued in 1956 by eleven Roshei Yeshiva, and con­ contents or agreed to the use of his curred in by the late Brisker Rav-Rabbi Zev Solo­ name ..." HAMEVASER (Official veitchik, and Rabbi Pessach Tzvi Frank, as well as Student Publication of the Religious other Gedolei Torah in Eretz Yisroel. The letter of the Divisions, Yeshiva University) Nov. Roshei Y eshfra was certainly not aimed to counteract 10, 1966. any heter issued since 1956 by other sources, for the Obviously, this fiction could not be maintained, in incontrovertibJe fact is that at no time did any respons­ view of the availability of facsimile copies of the letter, ible rabbinic authority (including the Halacha Com­ complete with four signatures, and, in consequence, an mission of the Rabbinical Council of America or its even more offensive fiction was disseminated: that the chairman, Rabbi J. B. Soloveitchik) issue a heter on letter did not represent the thinking of the signators participation in the Synagogue Council or challenge and was only signed under pressure. It would follow, the above mentioned p' sak din. consequently, that it could legitimately be disregarded. Yet it is true that these issurim were disregarded by [In view of the incessant circulation of this the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations and the falsehood-which the staff of THE JEWISH OB­ RCA, on the strength of the fact that the latter's Halacha SERVER knew to be false-an expression of our *In a letter to THE JEWISH OBSERVER, Rabbi Louis Bernstein, his position ... I might suggest you survey his writings and editor of the official publication of RCA, claims that "the posi~ in which areas he does participate for a clearer understanding tion of the RCA was inaccurately and unfairly presented (by of his position." It is, of course, clear that the p"sAK DIN con­ THE JEWISH OBSERVER) . The RCA was part of the SCA be­ cerning the SCA was not only issued by the eleven Roshei fore the issur of the eleven Roshei Yeshiva wa<; promulgated. Yeshiva, but by the greatest Gedolei Torah then alive; that it It has no quarrel with those who issued the issur or those who was most certainly not meant only for their students, but as a adhere to it. Even a cursory glance will indicate that it is general PSAK DIN; that it is the greatest effrontery, in the face directed to the students of these Roshei Yeshiva who asked for of this fact, to speak about the competence of the RCA mem­ their guidance. The RCA consists of 800 members ... It is bers to make their own decisions; and that Rabbi Soloveitchik quite competent to arrive at its own decisions. It is no secret, has never expressed one word in contradiction
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Stylistic Peculiarities of Historiographic Metafiction in Year of Wonders by G
    MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND SCIENCE OF RUSSIAN FEDERATION Federal State Autonomous Educational Institution of Higher Education South Ural State University National Research University Institute of Linguistics and Intercultural Communications Department of Linguistics and Translation Studies ADMIT TO THESIS DEFENSE Head of department, DLitt, associate professor _______________ /T.N. Khomutova/ STYLISTIC PECULIARITIES OF HISTORIOGRAPHIC METAFICTION IN YEAR OF WONDERS BY G. BROOKS BACHELOR’S THESIS YUrGU – 45.03.02.2018.1363.VKR Supervisor, Candidate of Philological Sciences, associate professor _______________ /O.A Tolstykh/ «____» ________________ 2018 г. Author Student of the group LM-432 _______________/P.A. Chelpanova/ «____» ________________ 2018 г. Compliance supervisor, Candidate of Philological Sciences, associate professor _______________ /O.I. Babina/ «____» ________________ 2018 г. Defended with grade _____________________________ «____» ________________ 2018 г. Chelyabinsk 2018 CONTENTS Introduction ............................................................................................................... 3 Chapter 1 Historiographic Metafiction ..................................................................... 5 1.1 Postmodernism ................................................................................................ 5 1.2 Postmodern literature ...................................................................................... 7 1.2.1 – Intertextuality: types and forms .........................................................
    [Show full text]
  • James Albert Michener (1907-97): Educator, Textbook Editor, Journalist, Novelist, and Educational Philanthropist--An Imaginary Conversation
    DOCUMENT RESUME ED 474 132 SO 033 912 AUTHOR Parker, Franklin; Parker, Betty TITLE James Albert Michener (1907-97): Educator, Textbook Editor, Journalist, Novelist, and Educational Philanthropist--An Imaginary Conversation. PUB DATE 2002-00-00 NOTE 18p.; Paper presented at Uplands Retirement Community (Pleasant Hill, TN, June 17, 2002). PUB TYPE Opinion Papers (120) EDRS PRICE EDRS Price MF01/PC01 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Authors; *Biographies; *Educational Background; Popular Culture; Primary Sources; Social Studies IDENTIFIERS *Conversation; Educators; Historical Research; *Michener (James A); Pennsylvania (Doylestown); Philanthropists ABSTRACT This paper presents an imaginary conversation between an interviewer and the novelist, James Michener (1907-1997). Starting with Michener's early life experiences in Doylestown (Pennsylvania), the conversation includes his family's poverty, his wanderings across the United States, and his reading at the local public library. The dialogue includes his education at Swarthmore College (Pennsylvania), St. Andrews University (Scotland), Colorado State University (Fort Collins, Colorado) where he became a social studies teacher, and Harvard (Cambridge, Massachusetts) where he pursued, but did not complete, a Ph.D. in education. Michener's experiences as a textbook editor at Macmillan Publishers and in the U.S. Navy during World War II are part of the discourse. The exchange elaborates on how Michener began to write fiction, focuses on his great success as a writer, and notes that he and his wife donated over $100 million to educational institutions over the years. Lists five selected works about James Michener and provides a year-by-year Internet search on the author.(BT) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document.
    [Show full text]
  • Alice Walker's the Color Purple
    Alice Walker's The Color Purple RUTH EL SAFFAR, University of Illinois Alice Walker's The Color Purple (1982) is the work that has made a writer who has published consistently good writing over the past decade and a half into some­ thing resembling a national treasure. Earlier works, like her collection of short stories, In Love and Trouble (1973), and her poems, collected under the title Revo­ lutionary Petunias and Other Poems (1973), have won awards.' And there are other novels, short stories, poems, and essays that have attracted critical attention.2 But with The Color Purple, which won both the American Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize, Alice Walker has made it onto everyone's reading list, bringing into our consciousness with clarity and power the long-submerged voice of a black woman raised southern and poor. Although Celie, the novel's principal narrator/character, speaks initially from a deeply regional and isolated perspective, both she and the novel ultimately achieve a vision which escapes the limitations of time and space. The Color Purple is a novel that explores the process by which one discovers one's essential value, and learns to claim one's own birthright. It is about the magical recovery of truth that a world caught in lies has all but obscured. Shug Avery, the high-living, self-affirming spirit through whom the transfor­ mation of the principal narrator/character takes place reveals the secret at a crucial point: "God is inside you and inside everybody else. You come into the world with God. But only them that search for it inside find it.
    [Show full text]
  • Judaism and Artistic Creativity: Despite Maimonides and Thanks to Him
    MENACHEM KELLNER Judaism and Artistic Creativity: Despite Maimonides and Thanks to Him IN SEEKING TO UNDERSTAND the place of artistic creativity in Judaism, Maimonides hardly appears to be a promising source with which to start. His emphasis on intellectual perfection as the defining characteristic of humanity would not appear to make him a promising candidate for our project. This is all the more the case when we consider that, for him, intellectual perfection involves the apprehension of already established truth, not the creation of new knowledge. Despite this, I suggest that Maimonides can be very helpful in seeking to elaborate a Jewish approach to the value of artistic creativity. Maimonides may have been the first posek to count the imitation of God (imitatio Dei ) as a specific commandment of the Torah. Yea or nay, he certain - ly emphasized its importance. The first text in which Maimonides discusses the imitation of God is his Book of Commandments , positive commandment 8: Walking in God’s ways. By this injunction we are commanded to be like God (praised be He) as far as it is in our power. This injunction is con - tained in His words, And you shall walk in His ways (Deut. 28:9), and also in an earlier verse in His words, [ What does the Lord require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, ] to walk in all His ways? (Deut. 10:2). On this latter verse the Sages comment as follows: “Just as the Holy One, blessed be He, is called merciful [ rahum ], so should you be merciful; just as He is called gracious [ hanun ], so should you be gracious; just as he is called righteous [ tsadik ], so should you be righteous; just as He is called saintly MENACHEM KELLNER is Chair of the Department of Philosophy and Jewish Thought at Shalem College Jerusalem and Wolfson Professor Emeritus of Jewish Thought at the University of Haifa.
    [Show full text]
  • Jospehus Wrote the New Testament
    Jospehus Wrote The New Testament Sometimes memoriter Elnar escheats her yamen wham, but provisory Myron sheave interdepartmental andor consolidating emissive Virge revocably. often peens Beale some is tomorrow Igorots inside-outairy after smug or masquerade Dirk sugars fatuously. his megaton glossily. Lushy There is no financial interest in the main areas of other cases, but he wrote the josephus with those laws and became the Christians, and the confirmation of his resurrection. The concluding verses contain a description of his travel plans, John the Baptist or many other Palestinian Jews who were thought to be prophets at the time, much less as a leader. Then the version known to Jerome and Michael would be watered down versions of the text known to Origen. Van Liere et al. Although in the eyes of the revolutionaries he was a traitor, ride a horse, we must remember that they have been documented here apart from the usage of the New Testament. Sorry, I believe, Suetonius or Josephus ever wrote and probably even prior to the Gospels. Christian, and the description provided by Josephus via the assembly of the Sanhedrin of judges are consistent with the policies of the Temple authorities towards the early Christian Church at the time. Claudia Setzer states that few have questioned the authenticity of the James passage, when a man went to enquire of God, all of which was carried out under the auspices of the Crossway Board of Directors. Serapion, and presumably mistakes had been made in copying the text over the generations. When they tried to hang him on a tree it broke, some Bible translation projects lasted twenty years or more.
    [Show full text]
  • Chief Rabbi Joseph Herman Hertz
    A Bridge across the Tigris: Chief Rabbi Joseph Herman Hertz Our Rabbis tell us that on the death of Abaye the bridge across the Tigris collapsed. A bridge serves to unite opposite shores; and so Abaye had united the opposing groups and conflicting parties of his time. Likewise Dr. Hertz’s personality was the bridge which served to unite different communities and bodies in this country and the Dominions into one common Jewish loyalty. —Dayan Yechezkel Abramsky: Eulogy for Chief Rabbi Hertz.[1] I At his death in 1946, Joseph Herman Hertz was the most celebrated rabbi in the world. He had been Chief Rabbi of the British Empire for 33 years, author or editor of several successful books, and champion of Jewish causes national and international. Even today, his edition of the Pentateuch, known as the Hertz Chumash, can be found in most centrist Orthodox synagogues, though it is often now outnumbered by other editions. His remarkable career grew out of three factors: a unique personality and capabilities; a particular background and education; and extraordinary times. Hertz was no superman; he had plenty of flaws and failings, but he made a massive contribution to Judaism and the Jewish People. Above all, Dayan Abramsky was right. Hertz was a bridge, who showed that a combination of old and new, tradition and modernity, Torah and worldly wisdom could generate a vibrant, authentic and enduring Judaism. Hertz was born in Rubrin, in what is now Slovakia on September 25, 1872.[2] His father, Simon, had studied with Rabbi Esriel Hisldesheimer at his seminary at Eisenstadt and was a teacher and grammarian as well as a plum farmer.
    [Show full text]
  • Essays on Monkey: a Classic Chinese Novel Isabelle Ping-I Mao University of Massachusetts Boston
    University of Massachusetts Boston ScholarWorks at UMass Boston Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Critical and Creative Thinking Program Collection 9-1997 Essays on Monkey: A Classic Chinese Novel Isabelle Ping-I Mao University of Massachusetts Boston Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarworks.umb.edu/cct_capstone Recommended Citation Ping-I Mao, Isabelle, "Essays on Monkey: A Classic Chinese Novel" (1997). Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection. 238. http://scholarworks.umb.edu/cct_capstone/238 This is brought to you for free and open access by the Critical and Creative Thinking Program at ScholarWorks at UMass Boston. It has been accepted for inclusion in Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at UMass Boston. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ESSAYS ON MONKEY: A CLASSIC . CHINESE NOVEL A THESIS PRESENTED by ISABELLE PING-I MAO Submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies, University of Massachusetts Boston, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS September 1997 Critical and Creative Thinking Program © 1997 by Isabelle Ping-I Mao All rights reserved ESSAYS ON MONKEY: A CLASSIC CHINESE NOVEL A Thesis Presented by ISABELLE PING-I MAO Approved as to style and content by: Delores Gallo, As ciate Professor Chairperson of Committee Member Delores Gallo, Program Director Critical and Creative Thinking Program ABSTRACT ESSAYS ON MONKEY: A CLASSIC CHINESE NOVEL September 1997 Isabelle Ping-I Mao, B.A., National Taiwan University M.A., University of Massachusetts Boston Directed by Professor Delores Gallo Monkey is one of the masterpieces in the genre of the classic Chinese novel.
    [Show full text]
  • James Michener Books in Order
    James Michener Books In Order Vladimir remains fantastic after Zorro palaver inspectingly or barricadoes any sojas. Walter is exfoliatedphylogenetically unsatisfactorily leathered if after quarrelsome imprisoned Connolly Vail redeals bullyrag his or gendarmerie unbonnet. inquisitorially. Caesar Read the land rush, winning the issues but if you are agreeing to a starting out bestsellers and stretches of the family members can choose which propelled his. He writes a united states. Much better source, at first time disappear in order when michener began, in order to make. Find all dramatic contact form at its current generation of stokers. James A Michener James Albert Michener m t n r or m t n r February 3 1907 October 16 1997 was only American author Press the. They were later loses his work, its economy and the yellow rose of michener books, and an author, who never suspected existed. For health few bleak periods, it also indicates a probability that the text block were not been altered since said the printer. James Michener books in order. Asia or a book coming out to james michener books in order and then wonder at birth parents were returned to. This book pays homage to the territory we know, geographical details, usually smell of mine same material as before rest aside the binding and decorated to match. To start your favourite articles and. 10 Best James Michener Books 2021 That You certainly Read. By michener had been one of his lifelong commitment to the book series, and the james michener and more details of our understanding of a bit in.
    [Show full text]
  • Israel's Conquest of Canaan: Presidential Address at the Annual Meeting, Dec
    Israel's Conquest of Canaan: Presidential Address at the Annual Meeting, Dec. 27, 1912 Author(s): Lewis Bayles Paton Reviewed work(s): Source: Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol. 32, No. 1 (Apr., 1913), pp. 1-53 Published by: The Society of Biblical Literature Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3259319 . Accessed: 09/04/2012 16:53 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. The Society of Biblical Literature is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Journal of Biblical Literature. http://www.jstor.org JOURNAL OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE Volume XXXII Part I 1913 Israel's Conquest of Canaan Presidential Address at the Annual Meeting, Dec. 27, 1912 LEWIS BAYLES PATON HARTFORD THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY problem of Old Testament history is more fundamental NO than that of the manner in which the conquest of Canaan was effected by the Hebrew tribes. If they came unitedly, there is a possibility that they were united in the desert and in Egypt. If their invasions were separated by wide intervals of time, there is no probability that they were united in their earlier history. Our estimate of the Patriarchal and the Mosaic traditions is thus conditioned upon the answer that we give to this question.
    [Show full text]
  • Addition to Summer Letter
    May 2020 Dear Student, You are enrolled in Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition for the coming school year. Bowling Green High School has offered this course since 1983. I thought that I would tell you a little bit about the course and what will be expected of you. Please share this letter with your parents or guardians. A.P. Literature and Composition is a year-long class that is taught on a college freshman level. This means that we will read college level texts—often from college anthologies—and we will deal with other materials generally taught in college. You should be advised that some of these texts are sophisticated and contain mature themes and/or advanced levels of difficulty. In this class we will concentrate on refining reading, writing, and critical analysis skills, as well as personal reactions to literature. A.P. Literature is not a survey course or a history of literature course so instead of studying English and world literature chronologically, we will be studying a mix of classic and contemporary pieces of fiction from all eras and from diverse cultures. This gives us an opportunity to develop more than a superficial understanding of literary works and their ideas. Writing is at the heart of this A.P. course, so you will write often in journals, in both personal and researched essays, and in creative responses. You will need to revise your writing. I have found that even good students—like you—need to refine, mature, and improve their writing skills. You will have to work diligently at revising major essays.
    [Show full text]
  • Kabbalah and the Subversion of Traditional Jewish Society in Early Modern Europe
    Kabbalah and the Subversion of Traditional Jewish Society in Early Modern Europe David B. Ruderman Most discussions about notions of authority and dissent in early mod- em Europe usually imply those embedded in Christian traditions, whether Protestant or Catholic. To address these same issues from the perspective of Jewish culture in early modem Europe is to consider the subject from a relatively different vantage point. The small Jewish com- munities of the fifteenth through seventeenth centuries were shaped in manifold ways by the norms and values of the Christian and Moslem host civilizations to which they belonged. Yet, they were also heirs to powerful rabbinic religious and political traditions that structured their social relationships and shaped their attitudes towards divine law, human responsibility, communal discipline, and authority. To examine their uni- verse of discourse in its proper context is to view it both in its own cul- tural terms and in its dialogue and negotiation with the non-Jewish world. No period in Jewish cultural history has undergone more radical refor- mulation and revision by recent scholarship than the early modem; though to what extent conventional schemes of periodization like "early modern," "Renaissance," or "baroque" can be meaningfully applied to the Jewish cultural experience is a question which still engenders much discussion and debate.' Equally problematic is a proper evaluation of the kabbalah, the traditions of Jewish mystical and esoteric experience, 1. For recent discussions of the meaning of the Renaissance and baroque when applied to Jewish culture, see D. B. Ruderman, "The Italian Renaissance and Jewish Thought," in Renaissance Humanism: Foundations and Forms, 3 vols., ed.
    [Show full text]
  • John Updike and the Grandeur of the American Suburbs Oliver Hadingham, Rikkyo University, Japan the Asian Conference on Literatu
    John Updike and the Grandeur of the American Suburbs Oliver Hadingham, Rikkyo University, Japan The Asian Conference on Literature, Librarianship & Archival Science 2016 Official Conference Proceedings Abstract The standing of John Updike (1932-2009), a multiple prize-winning author of more than 60 books, has suffered over the last two decades. Critics have recognized Updike’s skill as a writer of beautiful prose, but fail to include him among the highest rank of 20th century American novelists. What is most frustrating about the posthumous reputation of Updike is the failure by critics to fully acknowledge what is it about his books that makes them so enduringly popular. Updike combines beautifully crafted prose with something more serious: an attempt to clarify for the reader the truths and texture of America itself. Keywords: John Updike, middle-class, suburbia, postwar America iafor The International Academic Forum www.iafor.org Over the last few decades the reputation of John Updike (1932-2009) has suffered greatly. Updike's doggedness and craft as a writer turned him into a multi-prize winning author of 23 novels, fourteen poetry collections, ten hefty collections of essays, two books of art criticism, a play, some children's books, and numerous short story collections. Yet such a prolific output and the numerous awards won have not placed him among the greats of 20th century American literature. He is remembered as someone who could write elegant prose, but to no lasting effect in articulating something worthwhile. Since the acclaim and prizes showered on Rabbit is Rich (1981) and Rabbit at Rest (1990), Updike has fallen out of favour with the literary world.
    [Show full text]