Non­fic­tion

Con­tem­po­rary Jew­ish Writ­ing In Brazil: An Anthology

Nel­son H. .Viera, trans & ed.
  • Review
By – September 1, 2011
Con­tem­po­rary Jew­ish Writ­ing in Brazil intro­duces the read­er to a won­der­ful micro­cosm of the Jew­ish peo­ple of Brazil. Tak­en togeth­er, the sto­ries describe their jour­ney, from the old coun­try, through the fron­tiers, to mod­ern urban fan­ta­sy. The sub­ject mat­ter runs the gamut from the entire­ly friv­o­lous and very fun­ny to a dif­fer­ent, refresh­ing way of look­ing at famil­iar sub­jects, such as the immi­grant expe­ri­ence, the Holo­caust, and fam­i­ly dynam­ics. A fas­ci­nat­ing, lengthy intro­duc­tion ana­lyzes the sto­ries in a cul­ture and per­son­al­i­ty frame­work, plac­ing Jew­ish life in Brazil as part of the uni­ver­sal expe­ri­ence and explor­ing how Brazil’s Jew­ish writ­ers see them­selves in lit­er­a­ture, as com­pared to their his­to­ry and every­day lives.
Sydelle Shamah has been lead­ing book club dis­cus­sions for many years, and is a pub­lished sci­ence fic­tion writer. She was pres­i­dent of the Ruth Hyman Jew­ish Com­mu­ni­ty Cen­ter of Mon­mouth Coun­ty, NJ.

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