Benjamin Letzler

Benjamin Letzler studies history, theater studies and philosophy at the Freie Universität Berlin and is pursuing a J.D. at Harvard Law School. Prior journalism includes writing on Jewish themes (for New Voices and Aufbau), an article on war pornography (in While You Were Sleeping) and another on boy firefighters (for Boys' Life).

"A Sliced Tomato You Have Maybe." Jewish-American Literature and the Question of Food

Nation, creed, race, and spirit, hollow terms often carelessly invoked to describe identity, are little help for defining Jewish-Americanness. Externals - a Jewish religious identity, a relation to or memory of the fate of European Jewry, or a militant national identity in Zionism, among other things - are frequently taken to define what is "Jewish-American," when in fact they serve as surrogates. But is there an essential Jewish-American identity, and one that, rather than dwelling in past revelation and nationhood, exists, peacefully and vitally, in the present and the future? Citing texts of Abraham Cahan, Bernard Malamud, and Jeffrey Steingarten, the author outlines te response that there is: namely, that Jewish-Americanness, in its essence, is food.

held at: Multiple Cultures - Multiple Perspectives. Questions of Identity and Urbanity in a Transnational Context, May 15-17, 2003