In the Western literary tradition, the โjewโ has long been a figure of ethnic exclusion and social isolationโthe wanderer, the scapegoat, the alien. But it is no longer clear where a perennial outsider belongs. This provocative study of contemporary British writing points to the figure of the โjewโ as the litmus test of multicultural society. Efraim Sicher and Linda Weinhouse examine the โjewโ as a cultural construction distinct from the โJewishnessโ of literary characters in novels by, among others, Salman Rushdie, Anita Desai, Doris Lessing, Monica Ali, Caryl Philips, and Zadie Smith, as well as contemporary art and film.
Here the image of the โjewโ emerges in all its ambivalence, from postcolonial migrant and modern everyman to more traditional representations of the conspirator and malefactor. The multicultural discourses of ethnic and racial hybridity reflect dissolution of national and personal identities, yet the search for transnational, cultural forms conceals both the acceptance of marginal South Asian, Caribbean, and Jewish voices as well as the danger of resurgent antisemitic tropes. Innovative in its contextualization of the โjewโ in the multiculturalism debate in contemporary Britain, Under Postcolonial Eyes: Figuring the โjewโ in Contemporary British Writing analyzes the narrative of identities in a globalized culture and offers new interpretations of postmodern classics.