The Schocken Book of Contemporary Jewish Fiction

This landmark anthology brings together some of the best stories written in the last thirty years by and about American Jews. Saul Bellow tells a brutal coming-of-age story set in Chicago; Mark Helprin recalls a stint in the Israeli army during the Six-Day War; Grace Paley explores the complex relationship between Jews and Blacks; Philip Roth muses on what life would have been like for Kafka if he had come to America, and maybe dated Roth's aunt
        
From I.B. Singer's unforgettable depiction of a widower in Miami Beach to Michael Chabon's California-style Jewish wedding and Allegra Goodman's satiric portrayal of a yuppie Orthodox family, a rare view--and one surprising in its diversity--emerges out of the contemporary experience in America.Introductions
Ted Solotaroff: The Open Community
Nessa Rapoport: Summoned by the Feast

Max Apple: The Eighth Day
Saul Bellow: Something to Remember Me By
Marsha Lee Berkman: Deeds of Love and Rage
Michael Chabon: S Angel
E.L. Doctorow: The Writer in the Family
Allegra Goodman: Variant Text
Mark Helprin: North Light—A Recollection in the Present Tense
Allen Hoffman: Building Blocks
Johanna Kaplan: Sickness
Deirdre Levinson: April 19th, 1985
Bernard Malamud: The Silver Crown
Daphne Merkin: Enchantment
Leonard Michaels: Murderers
Cynthia Ozick: Bloodshed
Grace Paley: Zagrowsky Tells
Nessa Rapoport: The Woman Who Lost Her Names
Robin Roger: The Pagan Phallus
Philip Roth: “I Always Wanted You to Admire My Fasting”; or, Looking at Kafka
Adam Schwartz: Where Is It Written?
Lynne Sharon Schwartz: The Melting Pot
Lore Segal: The Reverse Bug
Isaac Bashevis Singer: A Party in Miami Beach
Joanna Spiro: Three Thousand Years of Your History...Take One Year for Yourself
Eppie Zore’a: Orchards"A rich and rewarding collection of stories by some of the best writers of our time."
--Doris Lessing

"A glorious collection as notable for its variety as it is for its common threads of brilliant and passionate writing."
--Hilma Wolitzer, author of HeartsTed Solotaroff is a literary critic and editor. His books include Best American Short Stories, Many Windows, and A Few Good Voices in My Head.

Nessa Rapoport is the author of Preparing for Sabbath and A Woman's Book of Grieving.