Sign-In
Cart
Literary Resistance: Jewish Humor as a Defense Mechanism
Hardcover
Series: Routledge Focus on Literature
ISBN13: 9781041427650
Publisher: Routledge
Published: Nov 2 2026
Pages: 146
Language: English
Literary Resistance: Jewish Humor as a Defense Mechanism examines how Jewish humor has functioned as a vital survival strategy and coping mechanism throughout 4,000 years of Jewish history, with particular emphasis on the Holocaust and its literary aftermath. Drawing on foundational theories by Henri Bergson and Sigmund Freud, the book explores the four classic humor theories (Relief and Release, Superiority, Incongruity, and Relational and Group Humor) while defining the distinctive characteristics of Jewish humor: its self-deprecating nature, its primary audience of Jews themselves, and its remarkable capacity to transform tears into laughter.
Part I traces examples of Jewish humor from biblical times through the pre-Holocaust era before focusing intensively on how Holocaust survivors including Charlotte Delbo, Edith Bruck, Viktor Frankl, Primo Levi, Jorge Semprún, and Elie Wiesel employed humor as a defense mechanism in the most extreme circumstances imaginable. Part II shifts to literary analysis, examining how twentieth and twenty-first-century Jewish-American writers have incorporated Holocaust themes and humor into their fiction. Through close readings of representative works by Saul Bellow, Cynthia Ozick, Philip Roth, Art Spiegelman, Thane Rosenbaum, Michael Chabon, Shalom Auslander, Nathan Englander, and Jonathan Safran Foer (writers who are either children or grandchildren of Holocaust survivors or who felt compelled to engage with the Shoah despite being spared direct experience of it), the study reveals how humor continues to serve as a powerful tool for processing trauma, asserting resilience, and finding meaning in the face of unspeakable horror.
Also from
Sánchez Canales, Gustavo
English Academic Writing for Spanish Speakers: A Practical Guide
Sánchez Canales, Gustavo
Núñez Cortés, Juan Antonio
Paperback
English Academic Writing for Spanish Speakers: A Practical Guide
Sánchez Canales, Gustavo
Núñez Cortés, Juan Antonio
Hardcover
Also in
Literary Criticism
Up from the Depths: Herman Melville, Lewis Mumford, and Rediscovery in Dark Times
Sachs, Aaron
Hardcover
Queer Faith: Reading Promiscuity and Race in the Secular Love Tradition
Sanchez, Melissa E.
Paperback
Ancient Rome at the Cinema: Story and Spectacle in Hollywood and Rome
Theodorakopoulos, Elena
Paperback
How to Be a Cat: (Cat Books for Kids, Cat Gifts for Kids, Cat Picture Book)
Lazar, Ralph
Swerling, Lisa
Hardcover
Hidden Hemingway: Inside the Ernest Hemingway Archives of Oak Park
Elder
Vetch, Aaron
Cirino, Mark
Hardcover
Dante's Vita Nuova, New Edition: A Translation and an Essay
Pitavy, Francois
Alighieri, Dante
Paperback
How to Read Literature Like a Professor: A Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading Between the Lines (Large Print Edition)
Foster, Thomas C.
Paperback
Much ADO about Nothing: No Fear Shakespeare Side-By-Side Plain English
Sparknotes
Shakespeare, William
Paperback
Twelfth Night: No Fear Shakespeare Side-By-Side Plain English
Shakespeare, William
Sparknotes
Paperback
Penelope's Bones: A New History of Homer's World Through the Women Written Out of It
Hauser, Emily
Paperback
Romeo and Juliet: No Fear Shakespeare Side-By-Side Plain English
Shakespeare, William
Sparknotes
Paperback
A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life
Saunders, George
Paperback
Mythology (75th Anniversary Illustrated Edition): Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes
Hamilton, Edith
Hardcover
Why You Should Read Children's Books, Even Though You Are So Old and Wise
Rundell, Katherine
Hardcover
Mean Dads for a Better America: The Generous Rewards of an Old-Fashioned Childhood
Shillue, Tom
Paperback
The Language of the Night: Essays on Writing, Science Fiction, and Fantasy
Le Guin, Ursula K.
Paperback
But Have You Read the Book? Romance Edition: 40 Love Stories That Inspired Our Favorite Films
Lopez, Kristen
Hardcover
Jane Austen's Bookshelf: A Rare Book Collector's Quest to Find the Women Writers Who Shaped a Legend
Romney, Rebecca
Paperback
Women of the Fairy Tale Resistance: The Forgotten Founding Mothers of the Fairy Tale and the Stories That They Spun
Harrington, Jane
Hardcover
Somewhere, a Boy and a Bear: A. A. Milne and the Creation of Winnie-The-Pooh
Brandreth, Gyles
Hardcover
A Midsummer Night's Dream: No Fear Shakespeare Side-By-Side Plain English
Sparknotes
Shakespeare, William
Paperback
Julius Caesar: No Fear Shakespeare Side-By-Side Plain English
Sparknotes
Shakespeare, William
Paperback
The Odyssey: An Illustrated Guide: A Character-By-Character Guide to the Story of Odysseus
Metzger, Doug
Hardcover
The Jane Austen Insult Guide for Well-Bred Women: Serving Tea with a Side of Scorn
Reed, Emily
Hardcover
The New Lifetime Reading Plan: The Classical Guide to World Literature, Revised and Expanded
Fadiman, Clifton
Major, John S.
Paperback
The Dream Factory: London's First Playhouse and the Making of William Shakespeare
Swift, Daniel
Hardcover
The Greek Tragedies: Seventeen Plays by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides
Sophocles
Euripides
Aeschylus
Paperback
Darkness Becomes Bright: On the Brief Life and Immortal Art of Edgar Allan Poe
Ogden, Emily
Hardcover
A Treacherous Secret Agent: How Literature Spoke Truth to Power During the Red Scare
Garber, Marjorie
Hardcover
Trace Elements: Conversations on the Project of Science Fiction and Fantasy
Walton, Jo
Palmer, Ada
Hardcover