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The Irish in America : Darby and Fievel Do Not Go West

1998; Philosophy Documentation Center; Volume: 2; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/nhr.1998.a926615

1534-5815

Charles Fanning,

Irish and British Studies

Charles Fanning The Irish in America: Darby and Fievel Do Not Go West Imagine, ifyou will, a hypothetical six-hour PBS"documentary"series The Jews in America. Let me count the ten ways of a scenario so worst-case that it would never, ever happen. First, the opening ninety minutes take place not "in America" at all, but in Eastern Europe and Russia, where a detailed picture is presented ofthe antisemitic pogroms that began in 1882 and continued past the turn of the century. The focus ofthis opening is not on the culpability of the Cossacks, but on the sufferings ofthe Jews and the way the pogroms acted as catalyst for the experience ofemigration, and, further, on how problems ofovercrowding and poverty in the shtetls were "solved" by the crisis. Second, throughout the six hours, the most persistent, repeating representation is the Jew as tightwad, sharper, moneylender . To reinforce this portrait, one of the recurrent talking heads in the series is apawnbroker, whose comments on is~ues spanning the entire history of his "people" are always filmed in his shop, the symbolic three linked balls over his head, and a clutter of other folks' unredeemed goods all around. Third, the series proceeds by means of a broad-brush, voiceover, generalizing text, punctuated with specific biographies of a few people carefully selected for their archetypal characters. The first of these is a "good Cossack," the governor of a provincial town who sympathized with the Jews under his control, and who kept the troops and thugs away for as long as he could. But when things got too hot, he shrugged his compassionate shoulders, moved away to Moscow, and let the games begin. Others chosen for emphasis include Arnold Rothstein, the man who fixed the 1919 World Series, chosen for his legendary success as a shady dealer, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, controversially executed for treason, and Sandy Koufax, the wily left-hander. Fourth, as for literary evidence ofilluminating self-scrutiny, only one writer is even mentioned-Philip Roth-and only one ofhis novels--Portnoy's Complaint , whkh is praised for its breakthrough exposure of telling, though embarrassing , characteristics of all American Jews. The rest of the documentary passes without any indication that a significant Jewish-American literary tradition even exists. There occur no references to Philip Roth's twenty other books, nor to Abraham Cahan, AnziaYezierska, Henry Roth, Delmore Schwartz, Tillie NEW HIBERNIA REVIEW /IRIS EIREANNACH NUA, 2:2 (SAMHRADH/SUMMER, 1998), 142-147 The Irish in America: Darby and Fievel Do Not Go West Olsen, Bernard Malamud, Saul Bellow, Norman Mailer, Stanley Elkin, Grace Paley, or Cynthia Ozick. Fifth, the other arts are similarly slighted. We see only a few clips from the crudest music hall and vaudeville self-stereotypes of the early 1900s. Wholly lacking is any indication of the pioneering Jewish self-definition and dialogue with America through drama, music, movies, radio, and television that have so shaped and enriched our popular culture. No Marx Brothers or Arthur Miller, no Irvin Berlin or Gershwins or Rodgers and Hammerstein or Bob Dylan, no Goldwyn and Mayer, no Jack Benny, Molly Goldberg, Sid Caesar, or Milton Berle, no Mel Brooks or Woody Allen. Sixth, to the obvious, pervasive, and vital identification of the Jewish people with Judaism-as a religious and moral system, as the wellspring of a people 's essence and solace for millenia, and as the great catalyst for prejudice against Jews in both Old and New Worlds-let us say that five minutes are allotted out of the 360 minutes ofthe series. And in this five minutes, we are given a look at one synagogue as an aesthetic object, not a place ofworship, and one clip ofKu Klux Klansmen on the march. There is no engagement with Jewish spirituality and philosophy as primum mobile ofthis culture, no mention ofthe watchdog role of B'nai Brith, and no on-screen interview with a rabbi. With one exception . At a different spot in the film, in the category of Jewish-American contributions to political extremism, we are treated to a clip of an incendiary speech by Rabbi Meyer Kahane. Seventh, what about gender? Well, let us say that references to...