In lieu of memory

"In Lieu of Memory provides a wide-ranging analysis of French Jewish authors born after the Shoah and traces the development of the rich agenda of jeune litterature juive (young Jewish writing) whose beginnings date back to the late 1970s and into the 1980s and 1990s when it gained intense momentum. Encyclopedic in its breadth of coverage, this book introduces these writers in an accessible manner. Thomas Nolden uses a wealth of biographical information into the exposition of his central thesis: because the transmission of the Jewish heritage was radically interrupted by assimilation, migration, and near extermination these writers have had to reinvent themselves, their past, and their memories as Jews." "Nolden provides concise readings of the fiction of more than two dozen writers of both Sephardic and Ashkenazi background living in present-day France. Throughout his discussion he demonstrates how contemporary Jewish writing responded historically, culturally, politically, and aesthetically to developments in French society and in Jewish culture. His critical analysis of the major themes, concerns, and stylistic features of the authors' work connects Jewish writing in France to the traditions of Jewish writing both in Israel, and in the diaspora. In addition, he places their remarkable body of writing within the Grande Nation at large and also within the context of France's Jewish communities, which were simultaneously being shaped by complex demographic, religious, and cultural shifts."--Jacket.