| This dissertation is a study of contemporary Jewish American women's memoirs. It argues that these texts offer provocative insight into the contemporary Jewish imaginary and therefore should be considered works of modern Jewish thought, or "archives" for the postmodern Jewish experience. In making this claim, the dissertation uses a variety of sources and modes of inquiry. At its heart lies close readings of two autobiographical works by contemporary American Jewish women---Still Alive: A Holocaust Girlhood Remembered by Ruth Kluger, and Home Movies and Other Necessary Fictions by Michelle Citron. These readings are supported by engagement with Jewish studies, cultural studies, and literary, feminist, and psychoanalytic theory. Using these tools, the dissertation explores the way contemporary Jewish American women's memoirs both challenge and enact traditional Jewish understandings of experience, memory, and textuality. |
