2013/03/01 by Matthew Baigell · 1 citation
Social Sciences · Arts and Humanities · #Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies #Jewish Identity and Society #American Jewish Fiction Analysis
paper · doi:10.1353/sho.2013.0062
openalex publication_date 2013/03/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21
Narratives based on a specific episode or subject in the Hebrew Bible are, surprisingly, a recent development in Jewish American art. Four such episodes are considered here: Moses’ second assent of Sinai, Jonah’s rejection and then acceptance of God’s instructions to go to Nineveh, the Noachian Flood, and sibling issues in the stories of Jacob and Esau and Leah and Rachel. They mark the emergence of a strong and important current among contemporary Jewish American artists, first, to return to biblical themes, and, second, to interpret—rather than merely to illustrate—them in personal ways.