University of Delaware
Office of Public Relations
UpDate - Vol. 16, No. 29, May 1


                Talk on Jewish women's literature topic
     
     Jay Halio, English, will present a talk on
"Contemporary Jewish American Women Writers and Jewish
American Literature" from 7-9 p.m., Tuesday, May 13, in Room
204 of Kirkbride Lecture Hall.
     Halio will discuss the question, "What is Jewish
American Literature?" and the various responses writers and
others have given in a search for a possible (if not
impossible) definition. He then will consider the work of a
number of prominent Jewish American writers, such as Isaac
Bashevis Singer, Bernard Malamud, Saul Bellow, Philip Roth,
Chaim Potok and the wave of new Jewish American women
writers, such as Anne Roiphe, Francine Prose, Lynn Sharon
Schwartz, Allegra Goodman and many others. He will pay
particular attention to their special contributions.
     Halio, along with Ben Siegel, professor of English at
the California State Polytechnic University in Pomona, has
published Daughters of Valor: Contemporary Jewish American
Women Writers, released this year by the University of
Delaware Press. He also is the author of a recently
published book on Philip Roth and is currently editing a
collection of essays, again with Ben Siegel, in honor of the
late Melvin J. Friedman. At UD, he is a member of the Jewish
Studies Program Executive Committee.
     For more information on his talk, call the Center for
Jewish Studies at 831-3324.