Matrilineal Dissent

Bridging literary studies and cultural history, this edited volume examines Jewish women writers' wide-ranging contributions to American literary culture from the turn of the twentieth century to the present. Matrilineal Dissent features innovative considerations of contemporary autofiction, graphic narratives, and novels by Mizrahi writers as well as middlebrow, Progressive Era, and second-wave feminist literature. Authors discussed herein—such as Roz Chast, Erica Jong,Annie Nathan Meyer, and Adrienne Rich—challenge monolithic representations of Jewishness and gender while imagining radical alternatives. By drawing attention to the politics of these authors and their readers, texts emerge as tools and living practices rather than as ends in themselves.
Collectively, contributors reframe Jewish American literary history through feminist approaches that have revolutionized the field, from intersectionality and the #MeToo movement to queer theory and disability studies. Examining both canonical and lesser-known texts, this collection invites questions about conventional understandings of Jewish American literature when we center women's writing and acknowledge women as dominant players in Jewish cultural production.