You Never Call! You Never Write! A History of the Jewish Mother

Antler, Joyce

ISBN 10: 0195147871 / ISBN 13: 9780195147872

Edité par Oxford University Press, 2007

A propos de cet article

With an overwhelming amount of Jewish Mother jokes and comedy routines, thus signaling a possibly comic intent the book is nothing but. Jewish or non Jewish the book proves to be a careful and meticulously researched study of the history of representations of mothers and daughters. Like new, first edition signed by the author. Size: 6¾" - 9½".

N° de réf. du vendeur 272735

Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: You Never Call! You Never Write! A History of the Jewish Mother
• Éditeur: Oxford University Press
• Date de parution: 2007
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN à 10 chiffres: 0195147871
• ISBN à 13 chiffres: 9780195147872
• Reliure: Hardcover
• Édition: 1st Edition
• État de l'article: Fine
• État de la jaquette: Fine
• Signé: Signed by Author(s)
• Type de livre: book

A propos de ce titre

Synopsis

In You Never Call, You Never Write, Joyce Antler provides an illuminating and often amusing history of one of the best-known figures in popular culture--the Jewish Mother. Whether drawn as self-sacrificing or manipulative, in countless films, novels, radio and television programs, stand-up comedy, and psychological and historical studies, she appears as a colossal figure, intensely involved in the lives of her children.
Antler traces the odyssey of this compelling personality through decades of American culture. She reminds us of a time when Jewish mothers were admired for their tenacity and nurturance, as in the early twentieth-century image of the "Yiddishe Mama," a sentimental figure popularized by entertainers such as George Jessel, Al Jolson, and Sophie Tucker, and especially by Gertrude Berg, whose amazingly successful "Molly Goldberg" ruled American radio and television for over 25 years. Antler explains the transformation of this Jewish Mother into a "brassy-voiced, smothering, and shrewish" scourge (in Irving Howe's words), detailing many variations on this negative theme, from Philip Roth's Portnoy's Complaint and Woody Allen's Oedipus Wrecks to television shows such as "The Nanny," "Seinfeld," and "Will and Grace." But she also uncovers a new counter-narrative, leading feminist scholars and stand-up comediennes to see the Jewish Mother in positive terms. Continually revised and reinvented, the Jewish Mother becomes in Antler's expert hands a unique lens with which to examine vital concerns of American Jews and the culture at large.
A joy to read, You Never Call, You Never Write will delight anyone who has ever known or been nurtured by a "Jewish Mother," and it will be a special source of insight for modern parents. As Antler suggests, in many ways "we are all Jewish Mothers" today.

À propos de l?auteur

Joyce Antler is the Samuel Lane Professor of American Jewish History and Culture at Brandeis University. She is the author or editor of nine books, including The Journey Home: How Jewish Women Shaped Modern America and Talking Back: Images of Jewish Women in Popular Culture. She lives in Brookline, Massachusetts, with her husband, and is the mother of two daughters.