CFP: Special Issue, Philip Roth Studies (18.1, Spring 2022), “Roth and Judaism"

CFP: Special Issue, Philip Roth Studies (18.1, Spring 2022), “Roth and Judaism”

Guest editors: Samuel J. Kessler (Gustavus Adolphus College) and Timothy Parrish (University of Nebraska – Lincoln)

A special issue (18.1, Spring 2022) of Philip Roth Studies will be devoted to the topic of “Roth and Judaism.”

While readers of Philip Roth have long considered the ways in which Roth’s Jewish identity contributes to the tradition of American Culture he claimed, this Special Issue addresses more broadly the Judaic culture and tradition that Roth’s writing emerged out of, resisted, and was necessarily a part of. From the time of the publication of his earliest stories, scholars, critics, and lay readers identified Roth as a Jewish writer writing in the context of American identity. And Roth, ever self-reflective, responded to his heritage with variously provocative, ironic, embracing, and dismissive discussions of Jewish identity and its impact on his writing.

We invite a wide range of approaches exploring Roth’s response to Judaism and Jewish religious context. Consideration of the impact of the Torah, of Talmudic hermeneutic practices, religious ritual, Jewish ethics, or Jewish history and historiography, among other related topics, would be welcome.

We invite emerging and established scholars from across the disciplines to contribute to this Special Issue, which is designed to expand our understanding of how Roth’s work is animated by and in conversation with the long history of Judaic thought and practice.

Please submit an abstract (350-500 words) to the editors, kessler@gustavus.edu and tparrish4@unl.edu.

Philip Roth Studies is a peer-reviewed, semiannual journal published by Purdue University Press in cooperation with the Philip Roth Society.

Abstract deadline: December 1, 2020 (with notification soon thereafter).

Complete article due: September 1, 2021.