Introduction: The Object Matter of Modern Jewish Literature -- Jewish Imagism -- The Little Magazine: From Font to Network -- "Good to think with": The Fictional Work of Objects -- Between Sefer and Bukh: Holocaust Memorial Books -- From Maus to The Rabbi's Cat: The Jewish Graphic Novel -- On the Seam: Artists' Books and the Unmaking of the Book.
Summary:
With the rise of digital media, the "death of the book" has been widely discussed. But the physical object of the book persists. Here, through the lens of materiality and objects, Barbara E. Mann tells a history of modern Jewish literature, from novels and poetry to graphic novels and artists' books. Bringing contemporary work on secularism and design in conversation with literary history, she offers a new and distinctive frame for understanding how literary genres emerge. The long twentieth century, a period of tremendous physical upheaval and geographic movement, witnessed the production of a multilingual canon of writing by Jewish authors. Literature's objecthood is felt not only in the physical qualities of books-bindings, covers, typography, illustrations-but also through the ways in which materiality itself became a practical foundation for literary expression.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.