The Evolution Of The Jewish Sense In American Jewish Novelists' Fictions

The American Jewish novelists occupy a very important position in American literature. After World War II their fictions are applauded by the world. Several of the American Jewish novelists won the Nobel Prize for their great works. More or less, these novelists benefit from the Jewish culture. When we analyze their background and their fictions, we could see that the Jewish sense plays a very important role. But the appearance of the Jewish sense in their fictions varies in different times. Issac Bassevis Singer tried his best to make the American Jews be aware of their Jewish culture. Bernard Malamud and Saul Bellow tried to connect the Jewish sense with the common fate of human beings. While Norman Mailer and Joseph Heller almost pay no attention to the Jewish sense, and we could hardly see it in their fictions. It seems that Mailer and Heller have already turned into Non-Jewish Jews. In the late of 1960's, a group of young Jewish novelists, such as Cynthia Ozick, Hugh Nissenson, Curt Leviant, Howard Schwartz, turned to the Jewish culture again. The Jewish sense has been brought back to life in American Jewish literature since then. In this thesis, the author generalizes the evolution of the Jewish sense in American Jewish novelists' fictions.