My Name Is Asher Lev/The Gift of Asher Lev (Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Chaim Potok
- First Published: 1972
- Type of Work: Novel
- Genres: Long fiction, Bildungsroman, Domestic realism
- Subjects: 1950’s, New York, North America or North Americans, Northeast, U.S., United States or Americans, Tradition, Art or artists, Communication, World War II, Religion, Genius, God, Emotions, Jews or Jewish life, Painting or painters, Drawing, Portraits
- Locales: Manhattan, NY, Paris, France, Brooklyn, NY, Crown Heights, NY, Provincetown, MA
A perennial theme in Potok's work considers the place of the artist (painter or writer) within the Hasidic community. In My Name Is Asher Lev, the controversy is over representational art. Asher is born in Crown Heights in Brooklyn in 1943, and as he grows it is evident that he has a gift for drawing and painting. Asher's father is frequently away on trips for the rebbe as the Ladover Hasid community (patterned perhaps on Lubavitch Hasidism) seeks to expand throughout Europe. While Aryeh Lev is arranging help for Jewish families emigrating to the United States, Asher and his...
[The entire page is 919 words long]
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
See Also
