Course · 9 Lessons · 6 hr 45 min

The New York Intellectuals: The First Generation

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, Jews flooded into the United States. Large numbers settled in New York, fashioning an intellectual community that became the basis of American Jewish culture today.

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Taught By

Dr. Ruth Wisse
Dr. Ruth R. Wisse is professor emerita of Yiddish and comparative literatures at Harvard and a distinguished senior fellow at Tikvah. Her memoir Free as a Jew: a Personal Memoir of National Self-Liberation, chapters of which appeared in Mosaic in somewhat different form, is out from Wicked Son…

Lessons in this Course

1
00:39:14
Entering the Goldene Medinah: The Birth of American Jewish Identity
In her first lecture, Professor Wisse provides a brief overview of the first generation of the New York Intellectuals: their emergence, goals, and cultural context. In particular, she probes the work of three different Jewish writers—Moyshe-Leyb Halpern, Anzia Yezierska, and Ludwig Lewisohn—who serve as examples of how these hitherto European Jews tried to balance their Jewishness with their new identities as Americans.

Acknowledgments

This course, and all of Ruth Wisse's work at Tikvah, is supported by the generosity of Robert L. Friedman.

The New York Intellectuals: The First Generation

Create Your Free Account

Taught By

Dr. Ruth Wisse

Lessons in this Course

Entering the Goldene Medinah: The Birth of American Jewish Identity

Acknowledgments

Tikvah Ideas All Access

Lessons in this Course

Entering the Goldene Medinah: The Birth of American Jewish Identity

Acknowledgments

Abraham Cahan

Jacob Glatstein

H. Leivick

A.M. Klein

Marie Syrkin

Maurice Samuel

Isaac Bashevis Singer

Chaim Grade