Abraham Cahan Criticism
Abraham Cahan, a Lithuanian-born American novelist, was a pivotal figure in early twentieth-century Jewish-American literature. Renowned for his innovative work as the editor of the Jewish Daily Forward, Cahan transformed it into a major cultural force within the Yiddish-speaking community. He was a distinguished journalist and author who wrote in both English and Yiddish, capturing the struggles of Russian Jewish immigrants in America with remarkable realism.
Cahan's biographical background significantly informed his literary work. Raised in Vilna, Lithuania, he was part of the lower-class Yiddish-speaking Jewish community and was self-taught in Russian to access broader educational resources. He emigrated to the United States in 1882 due to his involvement in radical socialist activities, settling in New York City's Lower East Side. There, he became a keen observer of immigrant life, working in a cigar factory and later as a journalist and union organizer. His leadership at the Forward helped address the needs of Jewish immigrants, promote socialist causes, and showcase Yiddish literature.
Cahan's literary work often centered on the theme of cultural assimilation and its complex effects on Jewish immigrants. His debut story, “Motke Arbel un zayn shiddokh” ("A Providential Match"), typified his focus on the immigrant experience, depicting the social and psychological challenges of adjusting to American life. His prominent work, The Rise of David Levinsky, is a profound study of a Russian yeshiva student who becomes a wealthy American entrepreneur, yet loses his spiritual and ethical bearings in the process. This novel is critically acclaimed for its exploration of identity and alienation, as noted by critics such as Isaac Rosenfeld and David Singer.
Initially overshadowed by his journalistic success, Cahan's fiction has been re-evaluated and celebrated for its contribution to ethnic literature. Critics like Sanford E. Marovitz and Louis Harap have highlighted his influence on later Jewish-American authors. Cahan's work is noted for its unflinching realism, prefiguring the themes explored by writers such as Philip Roth and Saul Bellow, and establishing The Rise of David Levinsky as an archetype of American Jewish fiction, as described by Dan Vogel.
Contents
- Principal Works
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Essays
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The Fall of David Levinsky
(summary)
In the following essay, originally published in 1952, Rosenfeld reviews The Rise of David Levinsky, noting the novel's study of "Jewish character" and its examination of American business culture.
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David Levinsky's Fall: A Note on the Liebman Thesis
(summary)
In the following essay, Singer examines The Rise of David Levinsky in light of Charles Liebman's thesis that most Jews who emigrated to the United States were shaped more by cultural and social mores than by religious orthodoxy.
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The Lonely New Americans of Abraham Cahan
(summary)
In the following essay, Marovitz argues that Cahan's characters fail to achieve healthy personal relationships because they abandon their faith for materialism.
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Cahan's Rise of David Levinsky: Archetype of American Jewish Fiction
(summary)
In the following essay, Vogel contends that The Rise of David Levinsky became the archetype for later fiction in the same genre.
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Fiction in English by Abraham Cahan
(summary)
In the following essay, Harap surveys Cahan's influence on American literature.
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The Yiddish Fiction of Abraham Cahan
(summary)
In the following essay, Chametzky provides an overview of Cahan's writings in Yiddish. Cahan began to write fiction cautiously—that is, in Yiddish, in the pages of the Arbeiter Zeitung, where critical tastes in literature were as yet largely unformed. Nevertheless, his first story, "Motke Arbel and His Romance" (1892), was a more than respectable performance, embodying a new literary voice and sensibility. The story tells of a low-bred fellow whose modest business success in America enables him to contract to marry the daughter of his former employer and social superior in Russia, but who is frustrated in the end because the young woman becomes engaged to another man on the journey to America. Even this cursory summary shows the undercutting of "romance" suggested in the title; "Motke Arbel" displays a sure sense of the Jewish immigrant experience and a lively feeling for real character, dialogue, situation. It was a great success with Cahan's readers.
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David Levinsky: Modern Man as Orphan
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In the following essay, Lyons examines The Rise of David Levinsky's broader impact as a novel of modern alienation.
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The Secular Trinity of a Lonely Millionaire: Language, Sex, and Power in 'The Rise of David Levinsky'
(summary)
In the following essay, Marovitz examines what he considers Cahan's major themes in The Rise of David Levinsky.
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The 'Discrepancies' of the Modern: Towards a Revaluation of Abraham Cahan's The Rise of David Levinsky
(summary)
In the following essay, Engel interprets Levinsky's inability to integrate the dichotomies in his life—including the differing cultures of Europe and America—as his greatest flaw.
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Women and Marriage in Abraham Cahan's Fiction
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In the following essay, Kress discusses Cahan's portrayal of women and marriage, arguing that his characters' ambivalence about marriage parallels their ambivalence about assimilation in America.
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A Convert to America: Sex, Self, and Ideology in Abraham Cahan
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In the following essay, Girgus examines Cahan's portrayal of the perversion of the American ideal in The Rise of David Levinsky.
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Levinsky and the Language of Acquisition
(summary)
In the following essay, Dembo discusses Cahan's use of language and dialogue in The Rise of David Levinsky.
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Abraham Cahan: Realism and the Early Stories
(summary)
In the following essay, Walden discusses Cahan's influence on Jewish-American culture in the early twentieth century and its reflection in his early stories.
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The Fall of David Levinsky
(summary)
- Further Reading