One of the main tasks of the introduction is to make the work of an author relevant for contemporary readers. But sometimes book publishers choose the wrong people to write introductions for books of dead authors. And what happens is that the legacy that this or that writer wished to pass on – if indeed […]
When it comes to Jewish humor, self-mockery is not new. Sanford Pinsker argues that Ibn Ezra, the 12th century Rabbi and Torah commentator, used self-mockery to epitomize the comedic state of exile (in general) and the schlemiel (in particular). Self-mockery is found in the classic joke about the schlemiel, the schlimazel, and the nudnik. One […]
Today, on his Facebook page, Gary Shteyngart announced that he is a “nebbish no more” since “The Forward puts me in its Top Five of 2014 list, where I’m the only sort-of-male listed.” The only “sort-of-male” is another name for the schlemiel, the man-child. He is, in other words, the only schlemiel on the list. […]
Near the end of Gary Shteyngart’s second novel – Absurdistan – Misha, the main character, reflects on what he learned about America from “Accidental College.” What we find in this account is a description of America as a place where the fine line between childhood and adulthood “has been eroding.” At Accidental College, dreams are […]
As far as schlemiel theory goes, I’ve been writing on a variety of the schlemiels this week. The differences between them are suggestive. But, more importantly, I’m seeing that I identify more with one variety rather than another. And the reasons I have for this identification speak most to what I find, today, most important […]
I recently stumbled across a trailer for Gary Shteyngart’s new book – Little Failure – which will hit the streets on January 2014. I came across the trailer by way of an article in Slate. The title of the piece, “Gary Shteyngart’s Homophobic Little Failure of a Book Trailer,” suggests that the trailer, because it […]
Following Gary Shteyngart’s depiction of Misha’s (fictional) circumcision – his first “American experience” – there are two chapters that address the two people closest to him. The first person to be addressed, in a chapter entitled “Who Killed Beloved Papa?” is his father. As I pointed out in other blog entries, his father – who […]
In an essay called “The Mouse than Never Roars: Jewish Masculinity in American Television,” Maurice Berger uses Jack Benny as one of a few illustrations of how the Jewish body appeared in the American public eye. Calling him a schlemiel, Berger notes that Benny’s body and gestures appear effeminate and that Jews, initially, played on […]
Schlemiels come in all sizes, shapes, and colors. Rather than simply generalize about the schlemiel – which I, like Ruth Wisse, Sander Gilman, Hannah Arendt, Sidrah DeKoven Ezrahi, and a few other schlemiel theorists often do – I’d also like to take a closer look at all the different kinds of schlemiel so as to […]
Judith Butler has, on many different occasions, pointed out that she is taking on the legacy of Hannah Arendt. And by this she means Arendt’s legacy vis-à-vis her work on the political. One of the terms Butler uses in her political vocabulary – which also pops up in her work on sexuality – is “normalization.” […]
Schlemiel Theory 