Memory and Neighborhood: Poles and Poland in Jewish American Fiction After World War Two

The generation following World War II in America has largely forgotten who was Polish and who was not before, during, and, especially, after the war. It is even more severe in American fiction. Even secondary Polish characters are given short shrift, and lack being fully realized. Aleksandowicz-Pedich (American literature and cross-cultural communication, SWPS U. of Social Sciences and Humanities, Warsaw) collects traces of Poland and Polish Jews in literature from after the war. She finds as one cause of this isolation traditional pre-war and post-war Polish anti-Semitism, and brings to mind other unpleasant Polish stereotypes from the war period. She then educates us about the part of Poles and Polish Jews in multicultural America after the war. She comes at the memory issue from several angles, including mining cities and ghettos, and reminds us that to the New World, Poland was part of the Old World, and, in fact, remains that way. She admits that to most people in America, Poland remains tainted by the Holocaust and is still a hostile place, a land of death. She states that Poland and Polish Jews did inherit customs, values and superstitions; she traces famous Poles and Polish Jews, and she seeks other constructs within Poland and contacts with contemporary Poland. As a result, it is easier to see why so many ignored Poland for its past and present. Annotation c2013 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Lucyna Aleksandrowicz-Pedich is Associate Professor at SWPS/University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Warsaw, where she is teaching American literature and cross-cultural communication. Her main research area is focusing on Jewish-American writers.