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Feeling Jewish:
In this sparkling debut, a young critic offers an original, passionate, and erudite account of what it means to feel Jewish—even when you’re not.
Self-hatred. Guilt. Resentment. Paranoia. Hysteria. Overbearing Mother-Love. In this witty, insightful, and poignant book, Devorah Baum delves into fiction, film, memoir, and psychoanalysis to present a dazzlingly original exploration of a series of feelings famously associated with modern Jews. Reflecting on why Jews have so often been depicted, both by others and by themselves, as prone to “negative” feelings, she queries how negative these feelings really are. And as the pace of globalization leaves countless people feeling more marginalized, uprooted, and existentially threatened, she argues that such “Jewish” feelings are becoming increasingly common to us all.
Ranging from Franz Kafka to Philip Roth, Sarah Bernhardt to Woody Allen, Anne Frank to Nathan Englander, Feeling Jewish bridges the usual fault lines between left and right, insider and outsider, Jew and Gentile, and even Semite and anti-Semite, to offer an indispensable guide for our divisive times.
Self-hatred. Guilt. Resentment. Paranoia. Hysteria. Overbearing Mother-Love. In this witty, insightful, and poignant book, Devorah Baum delves into fiction, film, memoir, and psychoanalysis to present a dazzlingly original exploration of a series of feelings famously associated with modern Jews. Reflecting on why Jews have so often been depicted, both by others and by themselves, as prone to “negative” feelings, she queries how negative these feelings really are. And as the pace of globalization leaves countless people feeling more marginalized, uprooted, and existentially threatened, she argues that such “Jewish” feelings are becoming increasingly common to us all.
Ranging from Franz Kafka to Philip Roth, Sarah Bernhardt to Woody Allen, Anne Frank to Nathan Englander, Feeling Jewish bridges the usual fault lines between left and right, insider and outsider, Jew and Gentile, and even Semite and anti-Semite, to offer an indispensable guide for our divisive times.
296 pages, Hardcover
Published August 22, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
October 30, 2017
I received a free e-book copy of this title from NetGalley. The opinions are my own.
I will admit: I read the first two chapters, didn't feel hooked and skimmed the rest. Unfortunately, the title & the blurb misrepresent the contents. I hoped for something more akin to a memoir, but this is a semi- academic book in the field of cultural studies - I would say that mostly it's a very academic book which tries to go informal from time to time. Yes, some parts appear quite interesting but this isn't really something I want to go in-depth on. I'm sure there are readers for whom this book will be just right, but I am not one of them.
I will admit: I read the first two chapters, didn't feel hooked and skimmed the rest. Unfortunately, the title & the blurb misrepresent the contents. I hoped for something more akin to a memoir, but this is a semi- academic book in the field of cultural studies - I would say that mostly it's a very academic book which tries to go informal from time to time. Yes, some parts appear quite interesting but this isn't really something I want to go in-depth on. I'm sure there are readers for whom this book will be just right, but I am not one of them.
February 20, 2018
Very insightful, sinuously written, just a really original analysis of feelings in our world today, using the Jewish example as a constant touchstone.
What the author does here is quietly radical. She shows how feelings are the one thing that cross-cut all these very intensely opposed political positions that seem to divide us these days. Both 'we' and those we're positioned against share, if nothing else, our negative feelings about each other. And there is a kind of hope in that, a place to begin.
So for example the chapter on paranoid feelings is amazing, how it shows that mirroring taking place for us politically these days. The chapter on self-hatred is all about how we take those divisions into our deepest selves without realising it, and end up living in splitness. There's a lot here that's really strong on the female experience as well, the chapter on being 'over the top' or hysterical is kind of a standalone masterpiece, bringing together the figure of 'the madwoman in the Attic' with Anne Frank and our contemporary hysteria. The "mother love" chapter is knowing and quietly feisty yet much more sophisticated and ambivalent than much recent feminist crit.
Tone - some distinctly demanding passages - in parts it's a scholarly treatise, and a classy one, in other parts it's more personal and approachable. The blend is justified because of the subject: feelings. It won't be for lay readers but for people with some bg in lit crit and theory it's something really special.
What the author does here is quietly radical. She shows how feelings are the one thing that cross-cut all these very intensely opposed political positions that seem to divide us these days. Both 'we' and those we're positioned against share, if nothing else, our negative feelings about each other. And there is a kind of hope in that, a place to begin.
So for example the chapter on paranoid feelings is amazing, how it shows that mirroring taking place for us politically these days. The chapter on self-hatred is all about how we take those divisions into our deepest selves without realising it, and end up living in splitness. There's a lot here that's really strong on the female experience as well, the chapter on being 'over the top' or hysterical is kind of a standalone masterpiece, bringing together the figure of 'the madwoman in the Attic' with Anne Frank and our contemporary hysteria. The "mother love" chapter is knowing and quietly feisty yet much more sophisticated and ambivalent than much recent feminist crit.
Tone - some distinctly demanding passages - in parts it's a scholarly treatise, and a classy one, in other parts it's more personal and approachable. The blend is justified because of the subject: feelings. It won't be for lay readers but for people with some bg in lit crit and theory it's something really special.
February 20, 2018
It is difficult to summarise this extraordinary, richly textured book. As I was reading it, I laughed out loud several times - the author goes from comic observation to philosophical enquiry so cleanly, via the byways of popular culture and literary theory ( Philip Roth, Jackie Mason, Woody Allen, Julia Kristeva, Rachel Cusk, the concepts of doubt, guilt and the film Single White Female all get the same incisive treatment ). I found it exhilarating, and moreish, and I don't normally read books like this.
August 2, 2018
Within the opening pages of this book (or if you’re like me, button presses), one is immediately bombarded not with what the title initially seems to suggest, but rather a twist on it - what feels like a dissertation-length composition waxing the epistemology of one saying they “feel fine.” Yes, this book is about feeling Jewish, but the first accosting is not one about the essence of Jewish feeling, but rather the continual struggles with something beyond fine, as if it were quintessentially Jewish in nature to be infinitely more complicated than goyish compadres.
What feels like awkward, oddly enough, is that with Baum’s musings on the concept of emotional feelings run rampant I find a connection - in this way the author has connected with my complexity inside, spoken to my core. Is it Jewish to be something other than fine? History would certainly afford that with over two thousand years of oppression. I would think being something other than fine is more of a humanity struggle. After all, my wife isn’t born Jewish (nor raised this way) and she deviates from being fine to F-I-N-E on a frequent basis.
Perhaps it’s not the concept of fine that’s unique, but rather then lengthy essay debating the accuracy of such a phrase. In that approach, it does feel quite Jewish to drone on about a minor social construct. In that case, perhaps I do feel Jewish simply reading this unnecessary complexity. It is in this sense that I agree with the author’s quoting summary, that Jews “are just like everyone else, only more so.” Baum at least points out, eventually, that the feelings in this book are not exclusive to Jews, but are something generally felt by every modern Jew. We are a people in exile, religious or not. In that sense, scattered across the world but recognizing of our distant relatives, being feeling Jewish is yet one way every Yid can find sympathy with their distant family.
Despite Baum's obsessive attention to detailed sentences and unfathomable length to the concept of feeling, which is merely the first part of two halves of the title, the author keeps most of my attention. There are parts where my eyes glaze over from simple too much discussion. In those moments, I wonder if this indeed was a dissertation for Baum at some point. Then there are parts where I connect, and I feel connected. It’s not just me. Others have this struggle too. In those moments, the author not-so-subtlety reminds me that my Jewishness may or may not be related, as everyone and simultaneously no one experiences the same. Either way, I feel as if the next page button on my Kindle Oasis will wear out before I finish the chapter. That alone is my key complaint - it makes me feel exasperated. Maybe that’s intentional…
Disclosure: I have received a reviewer copy and/or payment in exchange for an honest review of the product mentioned in this post. This product is reviewed based on content and quality in consideration of the intended audience. Review or recommendation of this product does not solicit endorsement from Reviews by J or the reviewer.
What feels like awkward, oddly enough, is that with Baum’s musings on the concept of emotional feelings run rampant I find a connection - in this way the author has connected with my complexity inside, spoken to my core. Is it Jewish to be something other than fine? History would certainly afford that with over two thousand years of oppression. I would think being something other than fine is more of a humanity struggle. After all, my wife isn’t born Jewish (nor raised this way) and she deviates from being fine to F-I-N-E on a frequent basis.
Perhaps it’s not the concept of fine that’s unique, but rather then lengthy essay debating the accuracy of such a phrase. In that approach, it does feel quite Jewish to drone on about a minor social construct. In that case, perhaps I do feel Jewish simply reading this unnecessary complexity. It is in this sense that I agree with the author’s quoting summary, that Jews “are just like everyone else, only more so.” Baum at least points out, eventually, that the feelings in this book are not exclusive to Jews, but are something generally felt by every modern Jew. We are a people in exile, religious or not. In that sense, scattered across the world but recognizing of our distant relatives, being feeling Jewish is yet one way every Yid can find sympathy with their distant family.
Despite Baum's obsessive attention to detailed sentences and unfathomable length to the concept of feeling, which is merely the first part of two halves of the title, the author keeps most of my attention. There are parts where my eyes glaze over from simple too much discussion. In those moments, I wonder if this indeed was a dissertation for Baum at some point. Then there are parts where I connect, and I feel connected. It’s not just me. Others have this struggle too. In those moments, the author not-so-subtlety reminds me that my Jewishness may or may not be related, as everyone and simultaneously no one experiences the same. Either way, I feel as if the next page button on my Kindle Oasis will wear out before I finish the chapter. That alone is my key complaint - it makes me feel exasperated. Maybe that’s intentional…
Disclosure: I have received a reviewer copy and/or payment in exchange for an honest review of the product mentioned in this post. This product is reviewed based on content and quality in consideration of the intended audience. Review or recommendation of this product does not solicit endorsement from Reviews by J or the reviewer.
July 18, 2018
This is a fascinating book about a subject that many people are hesitant to talk about. It requires some concentration to follow all of Baum's points, but is it a worthwhile and thought-provoking read. Highly recommend!
July 29, 2023
Very negative with no clear message. Do not recommend it.
December 26, 2023
Unreadable
June 9, 2024
Just wasn’t very good
January 27, 2021
Loved this. Writing the review some time after finishing it, but I remember that feeling of coming home (despite being, as far as I know, not Jewish at all.) It's such an original idea for a book, aimed at Jews and non-Jews alike. Relevant to all discussions of identity and belonging. Also a joy to read.
May 5, 2018
The author writes that this is "a book for just about anyone " but my main issue is that it wasn't. There was nothing wrong with the research and writing but it never grabbed me. Maybe it's because I'm not Jewish, so the literary examples of "Jewish" feelings (per the author) like guilt and self- loathing didn't resonate. At the least I learned about a few new books to check out.
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June 1, 2018305.8924 B3471 2017
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews