What makes a work “Jewish American literature”? Must it be written by a Jewish author, center Jewish characters or themes, or appear in a Jewish language? This course uses such questions to explore the American Jewish experience from the earliest Jewish settlement to the present, with particular attention to the period after 1865. Through fiction, poetry, memoir, drama, and other genres, students will examine how writers have represented migration, religion, family, race, belonging, assimilation, and cultural difference. Rather than imposing fixed definitions, the course treats “Jewish,” “American,” and “literature” as contested categories whose meanings have changed over time.