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Abstract
This is an investigation of contemporary mother-daughter relationships as reflected in Jewish-American women's literature with a focus on issues of gender development and on the establishment of American and Jewish identity. A background for comparison and a historical perspective are established by examining these areas in works by female Jewish writers from the immigrant generation through the feminist movement. Writers include Mary Antin, Anzia Yezierska, Tillie Olsen and Marge Piercy.
Two biographies by contemporary feminist writers, Kim Chernin and Vivian Gornick, who “re-story” the lives of their immigrant mothers, are discussed. Their writing proves to be an examination of their own individuation processes as well as vehicles for mother-daughter reparation. These are followed by Ann Roiphe's fiction, Lovingkindness, which is a mother's perspective on failed mothering as she faces her daughter's choice of an ultra-orthodox life style, and Daphne Merkin's Enchantment , the voice of a daughter who experiences deep feelings of resentment at having inadequate mothering. The research concludes with Allegra Goodman's Family Markowitz, a family collage whose members are as diverse as today's American-Jewish community.
Goodman's return to the traditionally Jewish motif of family, the absence of mother-daughter tension, and the introduction of Jewish feminism which for some Jewish women has facilitated a broad career choice and an educated assumption of a traditional Jewish life are indications of changed attitudes being reflected in Jewish women's writing today.
This research shows that mother-daughter relationships, gender formation, and American and Jewish identity development constantly change as they are affected by social, community and personal factors. Only the literature which portrays shtetl life prior to immigration to the United States contains idyllic scenes of mother-daughter harmony. Though female gendering, as defined by Nancy Chodorow, is reproduced from generation to generation through mothering, this dyad has mostly been characterized by discord, envy, guilt and anger.
