I'm not one of those people who goes hunting for antisemitism.
I was the kid who kept getting kicked out of class in Hebrew School.
I still think the best piece of writing about Anne Frank was Philip Roth's fantasy about marrying her in "The Ghost Writer."
I ate a grilled cheese with ham during Passover.
So I can certainly handle a little irreverence about the Jewish people.
But last night I was reading a short story with a dose of casual Antisemitism that stopped me dead in my tracks.
"The Regulars" is in the latest issue of the Brooklyn Rail. It was written by Lily Hoang, who teaches at New Mexico State University.
Frankly, the story was awful. It was about the dreary life of a dreary waitress who--wait for it!--writes poetry in her spare time. The piece had a jumbled narrative flow and no plot to speak of. It just followed the day of a pissed-off pretentious writer waiting to get off work.
I was reading the story, frankly curious if there was going to be something at the end lift this piece beyond the level of a Freshman writing class. Then I came upon this:
The woman is stout and very Jewish. As if to play into stereotype, her family never leaves more than a two dollar tip, and that’s if the waiter does everything they demand. Janice has only waited on them once, and they left no tip at all. They made an argument to the owner that they were unsatisfied with their service, and their meal, that if anything, Janice should have to pay their tab. Which is to say, they have a—reputation.
Yes, you can certainly get a reputation when you act as Jewish as that. Or should I say as VERY Jewish as that.
I might have let it go, but the story continues to talk about this very Jewish family. In fact, the family even has a very Jewish name. They're the Steinbergs. Now don't get me wrong: a very Jewish family should have a very Jewish name. But it's striking that none of the other customers in the diner have last names. And none of them are identified by their ethnicity. Customers may be identified as being rich or poor, handsome or ugly, interesting or predictable. All the regulars have some significant tags or traits that the main character remembers them by.
But only the Very Jewish Steinbergs are specifically identified as being a particularly egregious example of an ethnic stereotype.
Now, I'll be the first to admit that there can be a place for playful ethnic stereotyping in art. You wouldn't have South Park or Family Guy without it. And it's certainly valid to have characters that hold abhorrent positions and points-of-view.
But I am curious when Lily Huang thought it was necessary to stick in this random bit of Jew-hatred deep down near the end of her story. She might argue that this scene is intended to show how the main character, the waitress, is so burnt-out that she's starting to mentally lash out at her customers and view them through a prejudicial lens.
I'd be willing to buy that except that there's nothing into the writing to indicate that. The waitress isn't searching for a source of her anger: "That's why I hate serving them. They're Jews!" The perception of their Very Jewishness is indicated as a fact a priori--an irritation waiting to be inflicted.
So I ask: why did this need to be in the story? Did it add authentic tension to the plot? Did it shed light on the character? Did it explore the nature of antisemitism in any way?
I emailed the editors at the Brooklyn Rail for the answer. To his credit, the Fiction Editor, Donald Breckenridge, wrote back to me immediately. Beyond the inevitable "Apology if I was Offended," Breckenridge offered this:
In my reading of it those anti-Semetic observations put forward by the narrator simply serve as a device to highlight her own racism and narrow world view
Fair enough, except that I wonder if this story would have been published if it offered stereotypes of any other ethnic group. If Lily Huang had chosen a Very Black family or a Very Puerto Rican family or a Very Gay Couple to expose the waitresses narrow world-view, would this story have found its way into the Brooklyn Rail?
Feel free to decide for yourself:
http://www.brooklynrail.org/2012/04/fiction/the-regulars
I was the kid who kept getting kicked out of class in Hebrew School.
I still think the best piece of writing about Anne Frank was Philip Roth's fantasy about marrying her in "The Ghost Writer."
I ate a grilled cheese with ham during Passover.
So I can certainly handle a little irreverence about the Jewish people.
But last night I was reading a short story with a dose of casual Antisemitism that stopped me dead in my tracks.
"The Regulars" is in the latest issue of the Brooklyn Rail. It was written by Lily Hoang, who teaches at New Mexico State University.
Frankly, the story was awful. It was about the dreary life of a dreary waitress who--wait for it!--writes poetry in her spare time. The piece had a jumbled narrative flow and no plot to speak of. It just followed the day of a pissed-off pretentious writer waiting to get off work.
I was reading the story, frankly curious if there was going to be something at the end lift this piece beyond the level of a Freshman writing class. Then I came upon this:
The woman is stout and very Jewish. As if to play into stereotype, her family never leaves more than a two dollar tip, and that’s if the waiter does everything they demand. Janice has only waited on them once, and they left no tip at all. They made an argument to the owner that they were unsatisfied with their service, and their meal, that if anything, Janice should have to pay their tab. Which is to say, they have a—reputation.
Yes, you can certainly get a reputation when you act as Jewish as that. Or should I say as VERY Jewish as that.
I might have let it go, but the story continues to talk about this very Jewish family. In fact, the family even has a very Jewish name. They're the Steinbergs. Now don't get me wrong: a very Jewish family should have a very Jewish name. But it's striking that none of the other customers in the diner have last names. And none of them are identified by their ethnicity. Customers may be identified as being rich or poor, handsome or ugly, interesting or predictable. All the regulars have some significant tags or traits that the main character remembers them by.
But only the Very Jewish Steinbergs are specifically identified as being a particularly egregious example of an ethnic stereotype.
Now, I'll be the first to admit that there can be a place for playful ethnic stereotyping in art. You wouldn't have South Park or Family Guy without it. And it's certainly valid to have characters that hold abhorrent positions and points-of-view.
But I am curious when Lily Huang thought it was necessary to stick in this random bit of Jew-hatred deep down near the end of her story. She might argue that this scene is intended to show how the main character, the waitress, is so burnt-out that she's starting to mentally lash out at her customers and view them through a prejudicial lens.
I'd be willing to buy that except that there's nothing into the writing to indicate that. The waitress isn't searching for a source of her anger: "That's why I hate serving them. They're Jews!" The perception of their Very Jewishness is indicated as a fact a priori--an irritation waiting to be inflicted.
So I ask: why did this need to be in the story? Did it add authentic tension to the plot? Did it shed light on the character? Did it explore the nature of antisemitism in any way?
I emailed the editors at the Brooklyn Rail for the answer. To his credit, the Fiction Editor, Donald Breckenridge, wrote back to me immediately. Beyond the inevitable "Apology if I was Offended," Breckenridge offered this:
In my reading of it those anti-Semetic observations put forward by the narrator simply serve as a device to highlight her own racism and narrow world view
Fair enough, except that I wonder if this story would have been published if it offered stereotypes of any other ethnic group. If Lily Huang had chosen a Very Black family or a Very Puerto Rican family or a Very Gay Couple to expose the waitresses narrow world-view, would this story have found its way into the Brooklyn Rail?
Feel free to decide for yourself:
http://www.brooklynrail.org/2012/04/fiction/the-regulars
I think it is perceived as "safe" to use Jews as the butt of jokes, as punchlines, as stereotypes for the purpose of comic relief or "literary credibility," because famous Jews make fun of themselves all the time. Woody Allen. Mel Brooks. Sarah Silverman. Jerry Seinfeld. Practically every episode of SNL (maybe I'm exaggerating about that one...). The point is, no one flinches when that happens because it's not like us Jews will riot or stage marches. We just write editorials and vent to our analysts...
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