TY - JOUR
T1 - A Judaism of Ethics in a Post-Holocaust World
T2 - The Interplay of Literature and Theology in Cynthia Ozick's Messiah of Stockholm
AU - Sufrin, Claire E.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © Association for Jewish Studies 2021.
PY - 2021/11/1
Y1 - 2021/11/1
N2 - This article suggests that bringing Jewish literature and Jewish thought into conversation can deepen our understanding of each. As an illustration of this interdisciplinary methodology, I offer a reading of Cynthia Ozick's 1987 Messiah of Stockholm. I claim that Ozick has embedded an argument about the relationship of post-Holocaust Jewry to the past into the literary features of her novel. Her argument draws in particular upon Leo Baeck's account of Judaism as focused on the present and future in contrast to the worshipful approach to the past characteristic of other religions. At the same time, I offer a more nuanced take on the fear of idolatry so often noted in analyses of Ozick's work and situate that fear in relationship to the literary theories of her predecessor Bruno Schulz, who plays a key role in the novel, and her contemporary Harold Bloom.
AB - This article suggests that bringing Jewish literature and Jewish thought into conversation can deepen our understanding of each. As an illustration of this interdisciplinary methodology, I offer a reading of Cynthia Ozick's 1987 Messiah of Stockholm. I claim that Ozick has embedded an argument about the relationship of post-Holocaust Jewry to the past into the literary features of her novel. Her argument draws in particular upon Leo Baeck's account of Judaism as focused on the present and future in contrast to the worshipful approach to the past characteristic of other religions. At the same time, I offer a more nuanced take on the fear of idolatry so often noted in analyses of Ozick's work and situate that fear in relationship to the literary theories of her predecessor Bruno Schulz, who plays a key role in the novel, and her contemporary Harold Bloom.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85113717977&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85113717977&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1017/S0364009421000118
DO - 10.1017/S0364009421000118
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:85113717977
SN - 0364-0094
VL - 45
SP - 411
EP - 430
JO - AJS Review
JF - AJS Review
IS - 2
ER -