An anthology of previously-unpublished stories by leading young Jewish writers that explore the idea of the Promised Land
This vibrant anthology showcases new, unpublished short stories by a rapidly growing crop of highly talented young Jewish American fiction writers. Cohering around the core Jewish theme of the Promised Land, all the stories were written especially for this volume. With the kind of depth and imagination that only fiction allows, they offer striking variations on the multivalent theme of the Promised Land and how it continues to shape the collective consciousness of contemporary American Jews. This anthology provides a rich reading experience and a unique window onto Jewish American life and culture at the beginning of the twenty-first century. A scholarly introduction by Derek Rubin provides literary context, discusses the organization of the volume, and illuminates expected and unexpected connections among the stories. Promised Lands features 23 stories by Elisa Albert, Melvin Jules Bukiet, Janice Eidus, Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, Lauren Grodstein, Aaron Hamburger, Dara Horn, Rachel Kadish, Binnie Kirshenbaum, Joan Leegant, Yael Goldstein Love, Rivka Lovett, Tova Mirvis, Lev Raphael, Nessa Rapoport, Jonathan Rosen, Thane Rosenbaum, Joey Rubin, Edward Schwarzschild, Steve Stern, Lara Vapnyar, Adam Wilson, and Jonathan Wilson.
Endorsements:
“Irving Howe was wrong: The Jewish-American writer didn’t disappear after the post-immigrant generation but has become restless, multifaceted, and probing. Perhaps literature itself is now under threat but even that isn’t a deterrent: To tell a story, and to tell it well, is proof of durability.”—Ilan Stavans, author of On Borrowed Words: A Memoir of Language
“That more than a score of writers—seasoned veterans and relative newcomers to the literary scene—have produced a volume of short stories struggling and playing with the themes of Jewishness in America at the beginning of the twenty-first century speaks loudly about the salience and resilience of ‘being Jewish.’ In a complicated descant, these writers demonstrate the enduring mystery and power of the Jewish tradition in a post-modern world.”—Hasia R. Diner, New York University
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Derek Rubin teaches in the English Department and the American Studies Program at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. His essay anthology Who We Are: On Being (and Not Being) a Jewish American Writer won the 2005 National Jewish Book Award.
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