Inside the hornet's head An anthology of Jewish American writing

Contemporary Jewish American author and editor Charyn (The Green Lantern) has assembled a collection of 19 works of Jewish American fiction representing the range and diversity of the writers who comprise this important subgenre of American literature. In addition to the well known and widely anthologized-e.g., Saul Bellow, Philip Roth, Cynthia Ozick, Bernard Malamud, and Isaac Bashevis Singer-this collection includes other, equally important, Jewish American classic writers less widely anthologized, like Henry Roth (Call It Sleep is excerpted here), Stanley Elkin, Delmore Schwartz, Tillie Olsen, Herbert Gold, Anzia Yezierska, Grace Paley, and Woody Allen. Charyn aims to show the vibrancy and excitement of these diverse writers' works. Of particular interest is his introductory essay, which illuminates many of the pieces highlighted here. While most of these short selections are readily available elsewhere, some have gone out of print, which makes this anthology a welcome addition to Jewish American literature collections.-Herbert E. Shapiro, Empire State Coll. of SUNY at Rochester (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.