David Herman
Jewish American Writers in the ‘60s
Summary
The 1960s saw an explosion of exciting new Jewish American novels, stories and plays by writers like Saul Bellow, Philip Roth, Arthur Miller, Joseph Heller and Norman Mailer. Jewish writers had broken through into the mainstream along with Jewish film actors and comedians like Woody Allen and Mort Sahl. It was an extraordinary moment in Jewish American culture, unlike anything that had come before.
David Herman
David Herman is a freelance writer based in London. Over the past 20 years he has written almost a thousand articles, essays, and reviews on Jewish history and literature for publications including the Jewish Chronicle, the Jewish Quarterly, Jewish Renaissance, the Guardian, the New Statesman, and Prospect. He has taught courses on Jewish culture for the London Jewish Cultural Centre and JW3. He is a regular contributor to Jewish Book Week, the Association of Jewish Refugees, and the Insiders/Outsiders Festival on the contribution of Jewish refugees to British culture.
The point was they weren’t popular, they were marginal, they were not in the mainstream. It was partly the way they had their finger on the pulse. The way the mood in America changed from conservative, rural, middle America, that was no longer where the action was. The Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movement, in particular, really changed America. It became open to a new satirical, mocking kind of voice.
Well, of course not all the best writers, one should say, in fairness. What struck me was this new kind of Jewish American voice and the reputations of many of these writers. When I was young, people like Heller and Mailer were still very, very famous and highly thought of.
Absolutely. Many of the great Jewish comedians started out in these Jewish resort places in the Catskills, in upstate New York, and put their teeth there and then went on to become big TV stars or big movie stars.