Jewish Science Fiction and Fantasy through 1945

Jewish Science Fiction and Fantasy through 1945 PDF Author: Valerie Estelle Frankel
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 179363713X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 231

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Book Description
Science fiction first emerged in the Industrial Age and continued to develop into its current form during the twentieth century. This book analyses the role Jewish writers played in the process of its creation and development. The author provides a comprehensive overview, bridging such seemingly disparate themes and figures as the ghetto legends of the golem and their influence on both Frankenstein and robots, the role of, Jewish authors and publishers in developing the first science fiction magazine in New York in the 1930s, and their later contributions to new and developing medial forms like comics and film. Drawing on the historical context and the positions Jews held in the larger cultural environment, the author illustrates how themes and tropes in science fiction and fantasy relate back to the realities of Jewish life in the face of global anti-Semitism, the struggle to assimilate in America, and the hope that was inspired by the founding of Israel.

Jewish Science Fiction and Fantasy through 1945

Jewish Science Fiction and Fantasy through 1945 PDF Author: Valerie Estelle Frankel
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 179363713X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 231

Get Book Here

Book Description
Science fiction first emerged in the Industrial Age and continued to develop into its current form during the twentieth century. This book analyses the role Jewish writers played in the process of its creation and development. The author provides a comprehensive overview, bridging such seemingly disparate themes and figures as the ghetto legends of the golem and their influence on both Frankenstein and robots, the role of, Jewish authors and publishers in developing the first science fiction magazine in New York in the 1930s, and their later contributions to new and developing medial forms like comics and film. Drawing on the historical context and the positions Jews held in the larger cultural environment, the author illustrates how themes and tropes in science fiction and fantasy relate back to the realities of Jewish life in the face of global anti-Semitism, the struggle to assimilate in America, and the hope that was inspired by the founding of Israel.

Jewish Science Fiction and Fantasy of the 1960s and 70s

Jewish Science Fiction and Fantasy of the 1960s and 70s PDF Author: Valerie Estelle Frankel
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1666941859
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 269

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Book Description
Following the Holocaust, American literature experienced a resurgence of Jewish themes, characters, and contributions. This book focuses on the genres of science fiction and fantasy of the post-Holocaust period and argues that while the era was colored by grief, it also offered a renaissance of Jewish creative expression. The author provides an overview of texts beginning with the rise of Jewish speculative fiction anthologies in science fiction and fantasy and delving into emerging subgenres such as alternate history, post-apocalyptic, cold war, second-wave feminism, counterculture parodies, new wave, postmodernism, and cyberpunk to illustrate how Jewish culture made its mark on popular culture. The book also covers the Silver Age and Bronze Age of comics which saw Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Julius Schwartz, and Marv Wolfman form new superhero teams to battle prejudice and draws parallels with some of the most impactful shows made by Jewish creators, including Star Trek, Twilight Zone, and Doctor Who. The analysis also looks beyond the American context to include texts from Germany, the Soviet Union, Brazil, and Israel.

Jewish Women Science Fiction Writers Create Future Females

Jewish Women Science Fiction Writers Create Future Females PDF Author: Marleen S. Barr
Publisher: Lexington Books
ISBN: 1666928178
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 199

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Book Description
Jewish Women Science Fiction Writers Create Future Females: Gender, Temporality—and Yentas, the fourth volume in Marleen S. Barr’s Future Females critical feminist science fiction anthology series, is the first essay collection devoted to Jewish women science fiction writers. The anthology forges new alliances across disciplinary boundaries—feminist theory, science fiction, and Jewish Studies—by forming a scholarly force, consisting of established critical voices and cutting-edge, fresh perspectives. Acknowledging the growing cultural popularity of science fiction, Barr’s goal is to showcase new vistas for exploring gender through Jewish women’s science fiction visions. It is time for Jewish women science fiction writers to receive the focused critical examination they deserve.

Jews in Popular Science Fiction

Jews in Popular Science Fiction PDF Author: Valerie Estelle Frankel
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1666901466
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 297

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Book Description
This book analyzes Jewish tropes in popular science fiction ranging from Star Trek and Marvel to other prominent franchises. Sometimes the representation is subtle and thought-provoking; other times, it is limited to cliché and oversimplification of characters. The chapters in this collection examine the representation of Jewish characters in films and franchises including Superman, Lord of the Rings, The Mandalorian, The Twilight Zone, and more to shed light on the broad range of representations of the Jewish experience in popular science fiction and fantasy.

Jewish Fantasy Worldwide

Jewish Fantasy Worldwide PDF Author: Valerie Estelle Frankel
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1666926612
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 321

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Book Description
Jewish Fantasy Worldwide: Trends in Speculative Stories from Australia to Chile reaches beyond American fiction to reveal a spectrum of Jewish imagination. The chapters in this collection cover speculative works by Jewish artists and about Jewish characters from a broad range of national contexts, including post-Holocaust Europe, the Soviet Union, Israel, South America, French Canada, and the Middle East. The contributors consider various media including novels, short stories, film, YouTube videos, and fanfiction. Essays explore topics ranging from the ancient Jewish kingdom of Khazaria to modern university classes and the revival of Yiddish to the breadth of LGBTQ+ representation. For scholars and fans alike, this collection of essays will provide new perspectives on Jewish presences in speculative fiction around the world.

The Yiddish Supernatural on Screen

The Yiddish Supernatural on Screen PDF Author: Rebecca Margolis
Publisher: Lexington Books
ISBN: 1666910880
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 237

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Book Description
As a linguistic carrier of a thousand years of European Jewish civilization, the Yiddish language is closely tied to immigrant pasts and sites of Holocaust memory. In The Yiddish Supernatural on Screen, Rebecca Margolis investigates how translated and subtitled Yiddish dialogue reimagines Jewish lore and tells new stories where the supernatural looms over the narrative. The book traces the transformation of the figure of the dybbuk—a soul of the dead possessing the living—from folklore to 1930s Polish Yiddish cinema and on to global contemporary media. Margolis examines the association of spoken Yiddish with spectral elements adapted from Jewish legends within the horror genre. She explores how all-Yiddish prologues to comedy film and television depict magic located in an immigrant or pre-immigrant past that informs the present. Framing spoken Yiddish on screen as an ancestral language associated with trauma and dispossession, Margolis shows how it reconstructs haunted and mystical elements of the Jewish experience.

Goliath as Gentle Giant

Goliath as Gentle Giant PDF Author: Jonathan L. Friedmann
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1666904708
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 169

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Book Description
In the Hebrew Bible and stories loyal to it, Goliath is the stereotypical giant of folklore: big, brash, violent, and dimwitted. Goliath as Gentle Giant sets out to rehabilitate the giant’s image by exploring the origins of the biblical behemoth, the limitations of the “underdog” metaphor, and the few sympathetic treatments of Goliath in popular media. What insights emerge when we imagine things from Goliath’s point of view? How might this affect our reading of the biblical account or its many retellings and interpretations? What sort of man was Goliath really? The nuanced portraits analyzed in this book serve as a catalyst to challenge readers to question stereotypes, reexamine old assumptions, and humanize the “other.”

Europe Against the Jews, 1880–1945

Europe Against the Jews, 1880–1945 PDF Author: Götz Aly
Publisher: Metropolitan Books
ISBN: 1250170184
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 238

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Book Description
From the award-winning historian of the Holocaust, the first book to move beyond Germany’s singular crime to the collaboration of Europe as a whole. The Holocaust was perpetrated by the Germans, but it would not have been possible without the assistance of thousands of helpers in other countries: state officials, police, and civilians who eagerly supported the genocide. If we are to fully understand how and why the Holocaust happened, Götz Aly argues in this groundbreaking study, we must examine its prehistory throughout Europe. We must look at countries as far-flung as Romania and France, Russia and Greece, where, decades before the Nazis came to power, a deadly combination of envy, competition, nationalism, and social upheaval fueled a surge of anti-Semitism, creating the preconditions for the deportations and murder to come. In the late nineteenth century, new opportunities for education and social advancement were opening up, and Jewish minorities took particular advantage of them, leading to widespread resentment. At the same time, newly created nation-states, especially in the east, were striving for ethnic homogeneity and national renewal, goals which they saw as inextricably linked. Drawing upon a wide range of previously unpublished sources, Aly traces the sequence of events that made persecution of Jews an increasingly acceptable European practice. Ultimately, the German architects of genocide found support for the Final Solution in nearly all the countries they occupied or were allied with. Without diminishing the guilt of German perpetrators, Aly documents the involvement of all of Europe in the destruction of the Jews, once again deepening our understanding of this most tormented history. Praise for Europe Against the Jews 1880-1945 “A masterpiece.” —Die Zeit “If HBO’s The Plot Against America makes you want to know the grim real-life context, read German historian Götz Aly’s new book, Europe Against the Jews.” —New YorkMagazine “A major work on anti-Semitism of incredible research and singular scholarship. . . . Aly delivers again, this time expanding his lens outside of Germany to offer further revelations about the Holocaust.” —Kirkus Reviews

Wandering Stars

Wandering Stars PDF Author: Jack Dann
Publisher: Turner Publishing Company
ISBN: 1580237754
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 295

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Book Description
Jewish Science Fiction and Fantasy? Yes! Wandering Stars is the landmark collection of Jewish science fiction and fantasy. The first of its kind, it is an established and enduring classic. This is the first time in a science fiction collection that the Jewish People—and the richness of their themes and particular points of view—appear without a mask. Wandering Stars is a showpiece of Jewish wit, culture, and lore, of the blend of humor and sadness, cynicism, and faith. In these pages you’ll find superlative tales of fantasy and science fiction by masters.

Zion's Fiction

Zion's Fiction PDF Author: Sheldon Teitelbaum
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781942134527
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 320

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Book Description
First English-language historical anthology of Israeli fantasy and science fiction, a portal into the speculative fiction from the ultimate ImagiNation.