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

Resource Information

The work You never call! you never write! : a history of the Jewish mother represents a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in University of Missouri Libraries. This resource is a combination of several types including: Work, Language Material, Books.

Label

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

Title remainder

a history of the Jewish mother

Statement of responsibility

Joyce Antler

Title variation

You never call you never write

Creator

• Antler, Joyce

Subject

• Jewish women in literature
• Mothers in literature
• Mothers in motion pictures
• Stereotypes (Social psychology)
• Jewish women in motion pictures
• Feminist criticism
• Jewish women -- Humor
• Jewish women -- Humor
• Mothers -- Humor
• Humor
• Jewish women
• Mothers

Genre

• Humor

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

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