The New Orthodoxy: Religion in Contemporary Jewish American Literature

39th Convention, Northeast Modern Language Association (NeMLA)
April 10-13, 2008
Buffalo, New York

This panel seeks papers examining the role of religion in contemporary Jewish American literature. Specifically, we would like to look at how newer, contemporary Jewish American authors, such as Allegra Goodman, Jonathan Safran Foer, Nathan Englander and others, grapple with the history of assimilation by presenting alternatives to assimilation, either in the form of Orthodoxy or through another form of “religion,” such as science, work or art. In many cases, contemporary authors are trying to play out religious and secular scenarios with varying degrees of success; even in the best-case scenarios, religion is a problematic presence. Often the religious life is presented as either an escapist fantasy or as creatively suffocating. Why do the sacred and the secular continue to inhabit separate spaces and is it still necessary to choose between a religious life and a secular one?

Please email proposals of no more than 250 words by September 15, 2007 to Amanda R. Toronto, aqt8334@nyu.edu.

Deadline: September 15, 2007

Please include with your abstract:
Name and Affiliation
Email Address
Postal Address
Telephone Number
A/V Requirements (if any)

The complete Call for Papers for the 2008 NeMLA Convention will be posted in June: www.nemla.org

Interested participants may submit abstracts to more than one NeMLA panel; however panelists can only present one paper. Convention participants may present at a paper session panel and also present at a creative session or participate in a roundtable.