How to Other an Author
The latest from the infamous Ross Douthat: "In Search of a Jewish Narnia"
“Christianity has a much more vivid memory and even appreciation of the pagan worlds which preceded it than does Judaism,” and a greater comfort with supernaturalism and fairy tales in general.
and
Tolkien’s Sauron makes sense in a Christian universe; he makes less sense in a Jewish one.
First off: Maybe our appreciation of "pagan worlds" is a little less keen than Christianity's because, historically, Christianity ostracized pagans and Jews and Muslims and anyone else they could Other. Those special, Othered places become less exotic when you're one of the Others. Othering is a privilege of the majority, which, Medievally speaking, Jews never enjoyed. Secondly: Really, "pagan worlds"? Like pagans occupied occupy some special space-time continuum? They're people. Not magical creatures. Thirdly: Sauron makes sense in Tolkien's world. He doesn't really make much sense AT ALL in this "reality" the rest of us engage in. Fourthly: WE BROUGHT YOU SUPERMAN, ASSHOLE. Lastly: Isaac Bashevis Singer. Look into it.
Oh wait, I forgot, you hand-waved Singer AND Kafka AND Superman: Note that Weingrad is talking about fantasy as a genre, not the use of the fantastic as a literary tool. (So the existence of Kafka and Isaac Bashevis Singer does not disprove his thesis.)
THANKS FOR CLEARING THAT UP FOR US.
Fantasy novels tend to involve re-workings and re-imaginings of the medieval and ancient European past, and they’re often shot through with nostalgia for agrarian communities, chivalric codes of social order, and pre-modernity in general. These conceits, Weingrad notes, “are not especially welcoming to Jews, who were too often at the wrong end of the medieval sword,” and who are more likely - for obvious reasons - to be “deeply and passionately invested in modernity.” (This explains, he suggests, the obvious Jewish influence on the science fiction genre - and, he might have added, on superhero comic books as well.)
Okay, so we've excluded all graphic novels from the fantasy genre as well. Has somebody told Neil Gaiman? And thanks for that nod to history. You know we why we don't feel so fucking nostalgic for European agrarian communities? Because we weren't a part of them. We weren't allowed to own property. So we couldn't farm. Which is why we took up occupations like tailoring and doctoring and banking--so people could accuse us of being blood-drinkers every time they defaulted on a loan that only Jews could give them because the Catholic Church banned usury.
You see, Ross, this whole argument could be considered an ode to Othering. You pick something, like the "fantasy" genre and then you define it in terms that people not of your specific ethnic and religious background could achieve. And then you discount relevant contributions that such people (Jews, in this case) have made. And then you wonder why we haven't achieved it.
And, yes, I went ahead and read the Weingrad article. And I find his definition of "fantasy" limited at best:
Some readers may have already expressed surprise at my assertion that Jews do not write fantasy literature. Haven’t modern Jewish writers, from Kafka and Bruno Schulz to Isaac Bashevis Singer and Cynthia Ozick, written about ghosts, demons, magic, and metamorphoses? But the supernatural does not itself define fantasy literature, which is a more specific genre. It emerged in Victorian England, and its origins are best understood as one of a number of cultural salvage projects that occurred in an era when modern materialism and Darwinism seemed to drive religious faith from the field. Religion’s capacity for wonder found a haven in fantasy literature.
Gee, thank you for defining fantasy in such a way that no Jewish author is included. I certainly hope you won't go on to bitch about how there aren't any Jewish fantasy authors and make poorly reasoned historical conclusions about how there aren't any Jewish fantasy authors in a world in which no Jewish fantasy author is included in your definition.
Aside from an aversion to medieval nostalgia, there is a further historical reason why 20th-century Jews have not written much fantasy literature, and that is, inevitably, the Holocaust. Its still agonizing historical weight must press prohibitively upon Jewish engagement with the magical and fantastical.
GODWIN'S LAW! It's the Nazis that are keeping Jews from engaging with "fantasy" within the limited definition that Weingrad and Douthat allow. The argument is that Jews, culturally, may be less likely to write about a Sauron type, truly evil and capable of conquering the world because, hey, remember when that happened? So we couldn't possibly write about stuff like that, if you rule out Singer's soulless, avaricious demons and Superman's world-destroying nemeses.
Listen, when Hagar Yanai's books are translated, I will eagerly read them. They will be fantasy. But I do not think it's fair to say that Jews don't have a "Narnia" when you define fantasy=Narnia, a land reigned over by medieval nostalgia and strictly-Christian appreciation for Other cultures of Ye Olde Historie.
Beyond fiction vs. non-fiction, I think genre definitions are kind of dumb anyway. Are the Sookie Stackhouse books fantasy or mystery or romance? Yes. Is Michael Chabon's The Yiddish Policeman's Union science fiction or does it belong in the somewhat-more-nobly appointed "Literature" section of the bookstore?
Oh yeah. Douthat has something to say about Chabon, too. These aren't his words, but Douthat quotes extensively from this blog post by Abigail Nussbaum at the end of his own column. And this is the conclusion he subscribes to: There’s nothing wrong, of course, with introducing Jewish window dressing to traditionally non-Jewish genres-Michael Chabon has done so twice, to great effect, in recent years with The Yiddish Policemen’s Union and Gentlemen of the Road, and I’d like to see more Jewish elements appearing in and out of fantastic literature (in particular I’d like to see more depictions of Jewish worship-I’m tired of devout characters always being Christian)-but that’s not Jewish fantasy.
Window dressing. Well. No wonder we Jews don't have a fucking Narnia. Apparently, nothing we've done so far qualifies. Singer often set his stories in Poland, but his Poland was a fantastical place where Satan walked into villages and Golems were real. No, it doesn't have a special name, but it occupies a special hinterland of reality, not quite here, not quite there. Some might even call it fantastical. But apparently it doesn't count. Meanwhile, Superman's from planet Krypton and he can fly. There's a whole long backstory there that apparently doesn't count. Michael Chabon wrote a whole alternative history, complete with a different Israel and religious conflicts within the USA. But nobody wants that to count, either.
Douthan also seems to miss THE WHOLE POINT of Nussbaum's conclusion:
...Weingard, who ends his essay with the hopeful conclusion that "We will probably see more Jewish writers producing fantasy, as younger Israeli writers seek to follow global trends," does not seem to acknowledge this, or the fact that, as Farah demonstrates, there are already plenty of Jewish writers producing the kind of fantasy he's talking about. A Jewish Narnia, meanwhile, will be nothing like Narnia, and the real question raised by "Why There is No Jewish Narnia" isn't whether such a work will ever exist--it's whether Michael Weingard will be able to recognize it
Douthat and Weingrad sure as shit don't.
But, and this what really gripes my ass, why do Jews have to have a "Narnia" to count as fantasy authors? Do we really need a Jewish world to mirror Narnia in order to be legitimate? Science fiction has expanded far beyond what Isaac Asimov and Ray Bradbury wrote. Why can't "fantasy" encompass more than ONE WORK of C.S. Lewis? Narnia is not the end-all be-all of fantasy. Nor is Hogwarts. Nor is Middle Earth. Singer and Chabon and Jerry Siegel and Kafka and Gaiman and Yolen are all in the club. Get over it.
ETA: Neil Gaiman is a bar mitzvah. I rest my case.
ETA 2: Thank you, spiffy_dee! Jane Yolen, also Jewish.
“Christianity has a much more vivid memory and even appreciation of the pagan worlds which preceded it than does Judaism,” and a greater comfort with supernaturalism and fairy tales in general.
and
Tolkien’s Sauron makes sense in a Christian universe; he makes less sense in a Jewish one.
First off: Maybe our appreciation of "pagan worlds" is a little less keen than Christianity's because, historically, Christianity ostracized pagans and Jews and Muslims and anyone else they could Other. Those special, Othered places become less exotic when you're one of the Others. Othering is a privilege of the majority, which, Medievally speaking, Jews never enjoyed. Secondly: Really, "pagan worlds"? Like pagans occupied occupy some special space-time continuum? They're people. Not magical creatures. Thirdly: Sauron makes sense in Tolkien's world. He doesn't really make much sense AT ALL in this "reality" the rest of us engage in. Fourthly: WE BROUGHT YOU SUPERMAN, ASSHOLE. Lastly: Isaac Bashevis Singer. Look into it.
Oh wait, I forgot, you hand-waved Singer AND Kafka AND Superman: Note that Weingrad is talking about fantasy as a genre, not the use of the fantastic as a literary tool. (So the existence of Kafka and Isaac Bashevis Singer does not disprove his thesis.)
THANKS FOR CLEARING THAT UP FOR US.
Fantasy novels tend to involve re-workings and re-imaginings of the medieval and ancient European past, and they’re often shot through with nostalgia for agrarian communities, chivalric codes of social order, and pre-modernity in general. These conceits, Weingrad notes, “are not especially welcoming to Jews, who were too often at the wrong end of the medieval sword,” and who are more likely - for obvious reasons - to be “deeply and passionately invested in modernity.” (This explains, he suggests, the obvious Jewish influence on the science fiction genre - and, he might have added, on superhero comic books as well.)
Okay, so we've excluded all graphic novels from the fantasy genre as well. Has somebody told Neil Gaiman? And thanks for that nod to history. You know we why we don't feel so fucking nostalgic for European agrarian communities? Because we weren't a part of them. We weren't allowed to own property. So we couldn't farm. Which is why we took up occupations like tailoring and doctoring and banking--so people could accuse us of being blood-drinkers every time they defaulted on a loan that only Jews could give them because the Catholic Church banned usury.
You see, Ross, this whole argument could be considered an ode to Othering. You pick something, like the "fantasy" genre and then you define it in terms that people not of your specific ethnic and religious background could achieve. And then you discount relevant contributions that such people (Jews, in this case) have made. And then you wonder why we haven't achieved it.
And, yes, I went ahead and read the Weingrad article. And I find his definition of "fantasy" limited at best:
Some readers may have already expressed surprise at my assertion that Jews do not write fantasy literature. Haven’t modern Jewish writers, from Kafka and Bruno Schulz to Isaac Bashevis Singer and Cynthia Ozick, written about ghosts, demons, magic, and metamorphoses? But the supernatural does not itself define fantasy literature, which is a more specific genre. It emerged in Victorian England, and its origins are best understood as one of a number of cultural salvage projects that occurred in an era when modern materialism and Darwinism seemed to drive religious faith from the field. Religion’s capacity for wonder found a haven in fantasy literature.
Gee, thank you for defining fantasy in such a way that no Jewish author is included. I certainly hope you won't go on to bitch about how there aren't any Jewish fantasy authors and make poorly reasoned historical conclusions about how there aren't any Jewish fantasy authors in a world in which no Jewish fantasy author is included in your definition.
Aside from an aversion to medieval nostalgia, there is a further historical reason why 20th-century Jews have not written much fantasy literature, and that is, inevitably, the Holocaust. Its still agonizing historical weight must press prohibitively upon Jewish engagement with the magical and fantastical.
GODWIN'S LAW! It's the Nazis that are keeping Jews from engaging with "fantasy" within the limited definition that Weingrad and Douthat allow. The argument is that Jews, culturally, may be less likely to write about a Sauron type, truly evil and capable of conquering the world because, hey, remember when that happened? So we couldn't possibly write about stuff like that, if you rule out Singer's soulless, avaricious demons and Superman's world-destroying nemeses.
Listen, when Hagar Yanai's books are translated, I will eagerly read them. They will be fantasy. But I do not think it's fair to say that Jews don't have a "Narnia" when you define fantasy=Narnia, a land reigned over by medieval nostalgia and strictly-Christian appreciation for Other cultures of Ye Olde Historie.
Beyond fiction vs. non-fiction, I think genre definitions are kind of dumb anyway. Are the Sookie Stackhouse books fantasy or mystery or romance? Yes. Is Michael Chabon's The Yiddish Policeman's Union science fiction or does it belong in the somewhat-more-nobly appointed "Literature" section of the bookstore?
Oh yeah. Douthat has something to say about Chabon, too. These aren't his words, but Douthat quotes extensively from this blog post by Abigail Nussbaum at the end of his own column. And this is the conclusion he subscribes to: There’s nothing wrong, of course, with introducing Jewish window dressing to traditionally non-Jewish genres-Michael Chabon has done so twice, to great effect, in recent years with The Yiddish Policemen’s Union and Gentlemen of the Road, and I’d like to see more Jewish elements appearing in and out of fantastic literature (in particular I’d like to see more depictions of Jewish worship-I’m tired of devout characters always being Christian)-but that’s not Jewish fantasy.
Window dressing. Well. No wonder we Jews don't have a fucking Narnia. Apparently, nothing we've done so far qualifies. Singer often set his stories in Poland, but his Poland was a fantastical place where Satan walked into villages and Golems were real. No, it doesn't have a special name, but it occupies a special hinterland of reality, not quite here, not quite there. Some might even call it fantastical. But apparently it doesn't count. Meanwhile, Superman's from planet Krypton and he can fly. There's a whole long backstory there that apparently doesn't count. Michael Chabon wrote a whole alternative history, complete with a different Israel and religious conflicts within the USA. But nobody wants that to count, either.
Douthan also seems to miss THE WHOLE POINT of Nussbaum's conclusion:
...Weingard, who ends his essay with the hopeful conclusion that "We will probably see more Jewish writers producing fantasy, as younger Israeli writers seek to follow global trends," does not seem to acknowledge this, or the fact that, as Farah demonstrates, there are already plenty of Jewish writers producing the kind of fantasy he's talking about. A Jewish Narnia, meanwhile, will be nothing like Narnia, and the real question raised by "Why There is No Jewish Narnia" isn't whether such a work will ever exist--it's whether Michael Weingard will be able to recognize it
Douthat and Weingrad sure as shit don't.
But, and this what really gripes my ass, why do Jews have to have a "Narnia" to count as fantasy authors? Do we really need a Jewish world to mirror Narnia in order to be legitimate? Science fiction has expanded far beyond what Isaac Asimov and Ray Bradbury wrote. Why can't "fantasy" encompass more than ONE WORK of C.S. Lewis? Narnia is not the end-all be-all of fantasy. Nor is Hogwarts. Nor is Middle Earth. Singer and Chabon and Jerry Siegel and Kafka and Gaiman and Yolen are all in the club. Get over it.
ETA: Neil Gaiman is a bar mitzvah. I rest my case.
ETA 2: Thank you, spiffy_dee! Jane Yolen, also Jewish.