Call It English:
The Languages of Jewish American Literature
Hana Wirth-Nesher

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ADDITIONAL ENDORSEMENTS:

"This is simply a stunning book, and it is the book that Hana Wirth-Nesher's life experience and intellectual formation have meant her to write. There is no other student of American Jewish literature who possesses the tools and scholarly rigor to take on this topic, and there is no one else who delivers as abundantly on this promise. What at first seems peripheral or vestigial or even pedantic--the uses of Hebrew and Yiddish in American Jewish literature--is shown in a completely persuasive argument to turn to be of the first importance. In that sense, the book is path-breaking and will rewrite the map of the field."--Alan Mintz, Chana Kekst Professor of Hebrew Literature, Jewish Theological Seminary

"Call it Yiddish-, Hebrew-, German-, Polish-, or dialect-inflected, twentieth-century Jewish American literature emerges as uniquely multilingual in Hana Wirth-Nesher's groundbreaking book. Call It English brilliantly interprets 'American literature with a Jewish accent' for readers interested in the history of the novel and the aesthetic impact of transnationalism, translation, and diaspora."--Susan Gubar, Distinguished Professor of English, Indiana University

"Call It English makes a rich, comprehensive, and welcome contribution not only to the study of American Jewish literature but more broadly to our understanding of the evolution of transnational, multicultural American history. It is unlike any other critical work on American Jewish literature. Given her command of Yiddish and Hebrew, as well as her deep familiarity with American literature generally and American Jewish literature in particular, Wirth-Nesher is unusually well-positioned, and she has made the most of her scholarly and analytical skills in a book that is original from start to finish."--Eric J. Sundquist, University of California, Los Angeles, author of To Wake the Nations: Race in the Making of American Literature

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File created: 4/24/2008

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