There are a number of entries in Jews Across the Americas that are short literary texts. However, if you wanted to pair this collection with longer literary works, here are some suggestions of literature written by or about American Jews outside the United States. See also literature by 20 Books by Black Jewish Authors You Should Read. All entries are available in paperback and in English. Have a suggestion you’d like to add? email leibman@reed.edu
Early Colonial Era
Literary Works about the Era | Literary Works from the Era |
David Dabydeen, A Harlot’s Progress (Guyana/London) Ilan Stavans, El Iluminado: A Graphic Novel (Mexico) Marcos Aguinis, Against the Inquisition (Peru/Argentina) |
Age of Revolutions and Emancipation
Literary Works about the Era | Literary Works from the Era |
Cynthia McLeod, The Cost of Sugar (Suriname). Also a film |
Long Nineteenth Century
Literary Works about the Era | Literary Works from the Era |
Talia Carner, The Third Daughter (Argentina). | Alberto Gerchunoff, Jewish Gauchos of the Pampas (Argentina). Also a film |
Alice Hoffman, The Marriage of Opposites (St. Thomas) | Philip Cohen Labatt, “Curgy’s Funeral, Or The Old Time Busha” and “An Incident in the Late Rebellion in Jamaica” (Jamaica) |
The World at War
Literary Works about the Era | Literary Works from the Era |
Ana Shua, The Book of Memories (Argentina) |
Jews in the Postwar Americas
Literary Works about/from the Era |
Ruth Behar, Letters from Cuba (Cuba) Ruth Behar, Lucky Broken Girl (Cuba/United States) |
Anna Ruth Henriques, The Book of Mechtilde (Jamaica) |
Rosa Nissan, Like a Bride/Like a Mother (Mexico). Also a film. |
Moacyr Scliar, The Collected Stories of Moacyr Scliar (Brazil) Moacyr Scliar, Max and the Cats (Brazil) Moacyr Scliar, The Centaur in the Garden (Brazil) |
Ana Shua, The Book of Memories (Argentina) |