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The Resource You never call! you never write! : a history of the Jewish mother, Joyce Antler

You never call! you never write! : a history of the Jewish mother, Joyce Antler

Creator
Summary
"In You Never Call, You Never Write! Joyce Antler provides an illuminating and often amusing history of one of the best-known figures in popular culture - the Jewish Mother. Whether drawn as self-sacrificing or manipulative, in countless films, novels, radio and television programs, stand-up comedy, and psychological and historical studies, she appears as a colossal figure, intensely involved in the lives of her children." "Antler traces the odyssey of this compelling personality through decades of American culture. She reminds us of a time when Jewish mothers were admired for their tenacity and nurturance, as in the early-twentieth-century image of the "Yiddishe Mama," a sentimental figure popularized by entertainers such as George Jessel, Al Jolson, and Sophie Tucker, and especially Gertrude Berg, whose amazingly successful "Molly Goldberg" ruled American radio and television for over 25 years. Antler explains the transformation of this Jewish Mother into a "brassy-voiced, smothering, and shrewish" scourge (in Irving Howe's words), detailing many variations on this theme, from Philip Roth's Portnoy's Complaint and Woody Allen's Oedipus Wrecks to television shows such as The Nanny, Seinfeld, and Will and Grace. But she also uncovers a new counter-narrative, leading feminist scholars and stand-up comedians to see the Jewish Mother in positive terms. Continually revised and reinvented, the Jewish mother becomes in Antler's hands a unique lens through which to examine vital concerns of American Jews and the culture at large."--BOOK JACKET
Language
eng
Work
Publication
Extent
xii, 321 pages
Contents
  • 3.
  • Margaret Mead and Ruth Benedict : social science uncovers the Jewish "family plot"
  • 4.
  • From Marjorie Morningstar to Jennie Grossinger : the suburbs, the Catskills, and the Jewish mother joke
  • 5.
  • "American mother of the year" versus monster mothers : will the real Sophie Portnoy please stand up?
  • [pt. 2].
  • The new face of the Jewish mother
  • 6.
  • The mother and the movement : feminism constructs the Jewish mother
  • Acknowledgments
  • 7.
  • Roseanne and the nanny : the Jewish mother as postmodern spectacle
  • 8.
  • From second-generation memoirs to women's history : reclaiming the missing mother
  • 9.
  • "They raised beautiful families" : Jewish mothers narrate their lives
  • 10.
  • We are all Jewish mothers : mothering in the new millennium
  • Epilogue
  • Notes
  • Introduction
  • Archival sources
  • Index
  • [pt. 1].
  • The nagging stereotype
  • 1.
  • "My Yiddishe mama" : the multiple faces of the immigrant Jewish mother
  • 2.
  • Molly Goldberg : "the prototype of the Jewish mother" in the twentieth century
Isbn
9780195147872
Instance
Label
You never call! you never write! : a history of the Jewish mother
Title
You never call! you never write!
Title remainder
a history of the Jewish mother
Statement of responsibility
Joyce Antler
Title variation
You never call you never write
Creator
Subject
Genre
Language
eng
Summary
"In You Never Call, You Never Write! Joyce Antler provides an illuminating and often amusing history of one of the best-known figures in popular culture - the Jewish Mother. Whether drawn as self-sacrificing or manipulative, in countless films, novels, radio and television programs, stand-up comedy, and psychological and historical studies, she appears as a colossal figure, intensely involved in the lives of her children." "Antler traces the odyssey of this compelling personality through decades of American culture. She reminds us of a time when Jewish mothers were admired for their tenacity and nurturance, as in the early-twentieth-century image of the "Yiddishe Mama," a sentimental figure popularized by entertainers such as George Jessel, Al Jolson, and Sophie Tucker, and especially Gertrude Berg, whose amazingly successful "Molly Goldberg" ruled American radio and television for over 25 years. Antler explains the transformation of this Jewish Mother into a "brassy-voiced, smothering, and shrewish" scourge (in Irving Howe's words), detailing many variations on this theme, from Philip Roth's Portnoy's Complaint and Woody Allen's Oedipus Wrecks to television shows such as The Nanny, Seinfeld, and Will and Grace. But she also uncovers a new counter-narrative, leading feminist scholars and stand-up comedians to see the Jewish Mother in positive terms. Continually revised and reinvented, the Jewish mother becomes in Antler's hands a unique lens through which to examine vital concerns of American Jews and the culture at large."--BOOK JACKET
Cataloging source
DLC
http://library.link/vocab/creatorName
Antler, Joyce
Dewey number
306.874/3089924
Illustrations
illustrations
Index
index present
LC call number
HQ1172
LC item number
.A58 2007
Literary form
non fiction
Nature of contents
bibliography
http://library.link/vocab/subjectName
  • Jewish women
  • Mothers
  • Jewish women
  • Mothers
  • Jewish women in literature
  • Mothers in literature
  • Jewish women in motion pictures
  • Mothers in motion pictures
  • Feminist criticism
  • Stereotypes (Social psychology)
  • Jewish women
Label
You never call! you never write! : a history of the Jewish mother, Joyce Antler
Instantiates
Publication
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references (pages [259]-299) and index
Carrier category
volume
Carrier category code
  • nc
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Content category
text
Content type code
  • txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Contents
  • 3.
  • Margaret Mead and Ruth Benedict : social science uncovers the Jewish "family plot"
  • 4.
  • From Marjorie Morningstar to Jennie Grossinger : the suburbs, the Catskills, and the Jewish mother joke
  • 5.
  • "American mother of the year" versus monster mothers : will the real Sophie Portnoy please stand up?
  • [pt. 2].
  • The new face of the Jewish mother
  • 6.
  • The mother and the movement : feminism constructs the Jewish mother
  • Acknowledgments
  • 7.
  • Roseanne and the nanny : the Jewish mother as postmodern spectacle
  • 8.
  • From second-generation memoirs to women's history : reclaiming the missing mother
  • 9.
  • "They raised beautiful families" : Jewish mothers narrate their lives
  • 10.
  • We are all Jewish mothers : mothering in the new millennium
  • Epilogue
  • Notes
  • Introduction
  • Archival sources
  • Index
  • [pt. 1].
  • The nagging stereotype
  • 1.
  • "My Yiddishe mama" : the multiple faces of the immigrant Jewish mother
  • 2.
  • Molly Goldberg : "the prototype of the Jewish mother" in the twentieth century
Control code
75389988
Dimensions
25 cm
Extent
xii, 321 pages
Isbn
9780195147872
Lccn
2006036249
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
  • n
Other physical details
illustrations
System control number
(OCoLC)75389988
Label
You never call! you never write! : a history of the Jewish mother, Joyce Antler
Publication
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references (pages [259]-299) and index
Carrier category
volume
Carrier category code
  • nc
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Content category
text
Content type code
  • txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Contents
  • 3.
  • Margaret Mead and Ruth Benedict : social science uncovers the Jewish "family plot"
  • 4.
  • From Marjorie Morningstar to Jennie Grossinger : the suburbs, the Catskills, and the Jewish mother joke
  • 5.
  • "American mother of the year" versus monster mothers : will the real Sophie Portnoy please stand up?
  • [pt. 2].
  • The new face of the Jewish mother
  • 6.
  • The mother and the movement : feminism constructs the Jewish mother
  • Acknowledgments
  • 7.
  • Roseanne and the nanny : the Jewish mother as postmodern spectacle
  • 8.
  • From second-generation memoirs to women's history : reclaiming the missing mother
  • 9.
  • "They raised beautiful families" : Jewish mothers narrate their lives
  • 10.
  • We are all Jewish mothers : mothering in the new millennium
  • Epilogue
  • Notes
  • Introduction
  • Archival sources
  • Index
  • [pt. 1].
  • The nagging stereotype
  • 1.
  • "My Yiddishe mama" : the multiple faces of the immigrant Jewish mother
  • 2.
  • Molly Goldberg : "the prototype of the Jewish mother" in the twentieth century
Control code
75389988
Dimensions
25 cm
Extent
xii, 321 pages
Isbn
9780195147872
Lccn
2006036249
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
  • n
Other physical details
illustrations
System control number
(OCoLC)75389988

Subject

Genre

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      1020 Lowry Street, Columbia, MO, 65201, US
      38.944491 -92.326012

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