THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
3 Friday, September 11, 1981
Jewish Literature's New Holocaust Theme
Reflects Second Wave of Immigrants- to U.S.
By BEN GALLOB
NEW YORK IJTA) —
The new immigrant novel,
dealing with Jewish new-
comers to America who sur-
vived the Holocaust, re-
flects a profound change in
the outlook of American
Jewish writers who por-
trayed the earlier mass
Jewish immigrants in
terms of an inevitable as-
similation, according to an
expert in the field, Dorothy
Seidman Bilik.
Ms. Bilik, assistant pro-
fessor in the German and
Slavic languages and litera-
ture department of Mary-
land University, has spelled
out the difference of the im-
pact of the two streams of
Jewish immigration on
American Jewish writers in
a new book, "Immigrant-
Survivors," published by
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She noted that nearly two
million Jews came to the
United States from Europe
in the first half of this cen-
tury. They were eager, vol-
untary immigrants, work-
ing class people who hoped
to escape poverty and perse-
cution.
In contrast, she de-
clared, the refugees who
arrived after 1933 were
richer and better edu-
cated people who had
been shocked•out of com-
fortable existences. She
asserted that nowhere
are these basic dif-
ferences between those
experiences so apparent
as in the Jewish Ameri-
can fiction of this cen-
tury.
She declared that, as re-
cently as 1971, American
critics had argued that
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after the early immigrant
novels and the "crisis of
identity" novels of the 1950s
and 1960s, Jewish Ameri-
can literature had
exhausted its theme of as-
similation and was in
danger of declining into
self-parody.
In her book, Ms. Bilik out-
lined a counter-trend, a new
sub-genre of Jewish Ameri-
can literature, which she
said was sought to come to
terms with what is perhaps
the major historical event of
the 20th Century — the
Holocaust. Instead of the
assimilation focus, she re-
ported, the new immigrant
novel is "deeply concerned
with the continuing impor-
tance of the Jewish experi-
ence" and can be thought of
"as a manifestation by
Jewish American writers of
a delayed post-Holocaust
consciousness."
She declared that the
"immigrant-survivors" are
the fictional counterparts of
those Jews who came to the
United States after World
War II, who survived the
ghettoes, mass murders and
death camps. She wrote
"they represent what re-
mains of the thousand-
year-old Eastern European
Jewish culture of Yiddish-
speaking Jews from whom
the overwhelming majority
of American Jews are de-
scended."
The action that takes
place in the minds of the
protagonists is of greatest
importance , in post-
Holocaust literature.
She contended that the
figure of the immigrant-
survivor, while painfully
examining the past from
a distant perspective,
provides the Jewish
American writer, who
seeks comprehension of
the Holocaust, with a
voice, a center of con-
sciousness, that allows
him to express not only
his horror and guilt but
his sense of renewed
connection with the past.
Ms. Bilik views the
immigrant-survivor as an
alienated, unassimilated
and haunted Jew. Whereas
earlier fictional immigrants
were able to exchange their
collective identity for
anonymous and private
careers, the Holocaust sur-
vivor is thrust into a sym-
bolic, sometimes -redeinp-
tive role. The history of the
survivor is collective his-
tory — one stands for many.
He is a witness, judge
teacher and transmitter of
cultural values and of the
past, she asserted.
"Examining the writings
of Bernard Malamud, Isaac
Bashevis Singer, Saul Be-
llow and others, Ms. Bilik
set forth what she called the
two major categories of the
post-Holocaust immigrant
novel: The naturalistic or
historical novel and the
anatomical novel. She
argued that the anatomical
novel, which is discursive
and philosophical, is most
appropriate to the goals of
the new immigrant novel.
Colemans Celebrate 50th
Mr. and Mrs. Joseph
(Mary) Coleman of South-
field were honored recently
by their children and
grandchildren at a party at
Cong. Beth Achim on the
occasion of their 50th wed-
ding anniversary.
Their children are: Mr.
and Mrs. Arnold (Arlene)
Coleman of Savannah, Ga.,
Dr. and Mrs. Herbert (Pat-
ricia) Bircoll and Dr. and
Mrs. Walter (Judith) Cole-
man. The senior Colemans
have eight grandchildren.
The couple were married
Aug. 30,1931, at the former
Holbrook Synagogue. The
Colemans moved to
Moncton, N.B., Canada, Mr.
Coleman's hometown, until
1934, when they returned to
Detroit.
The Colemans were
honored with the dedica-
tion of the Joseph and
Mary Coleman Grove in
the American Indepen-
dence Park in Israel..
Attending the party were
guests from Lauderdale
Cash Increases
NEW YORK (JTA) —
The United Jewish Appeal
national cash campaign re-
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million in the first six
months of this year, an 11
percent increase in collec-
tions over the first six
months of 1980.
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