Adam Kirsch surveys the contemporary landscape of publishing (which, contrary to dire predictions of the end of the printed word, is very much alive), the flourishing of small publishing houses, and what it all means for the future of American Jewish literature:
There is a definite sense today that Jewish writing has become a genre of American fiction, rather than the main event, as it was in the palmy days of Roth and Bellow—or E. L. Doctorow, whose recent passing brought back memories of that golden age. The classics of American Jewish literature were largely about Jews wrestling with or trying to escape their background, which meant that they were versions of the universal American story of immigration. (It is no coincidence that some of the most vital American Jewish writing today is by Soviet immigrants, who are the heirs to that experience.)
Today, on the other hand, Jewish writers tend to be more Jewishly knowledgeable, more interested in actual Jewish communities and Judaism itself—which means that their writing’s primarily appeal is to other Jews, as with Nathan Englander or Allegra Goodman. . . . Some of the most interesting Jewish books being written today, in fact, are too local in their appeal to find a place with the big publishers; they are just the kind of books that need small presses to do them justice.
Read more on Tablet: http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/books/192497/small-press-world