Jewish American Women Writers in the 18th and 19th Centuries

Abstract

While the only existing substantial writings by Jewish women in 18th-century North America are the letters of Abigail Levy Franks and Rebecca Gratz, several 19th-century women published novels, short stories, essays, and poetry. Moreover, a periodical edited by Rosa Sonneschein, The American Jewess, appeared between 1895 and 1899. Despite these writers’ important literary contributions both to Jewish and general readerships, their work was often overlooked in studies of American literature. While women’s writings in general have frequently been neglected and excluded from literary canons, it is likely that the situation for Jewish female authors was also a result of their triple “otherness,” as artists, women, and Jews. In addition to a general bias against female literary endeavors in the 19th-century, these writers’ own culture often rebuffed their ambitions. Hence, Jewish women writers sometimes lived with a sense of agonizing ambivalence within a Jewish community that tended to reject their aspirations. However, while a life dedicated to literature required sacrifices, these women found that writing allowed them to repossess and investigate their Jewish legacy. This bibliography focuses on primary documents and scholarly writings that demonstrate the literary accomplishments of the 18th-century Franks and a range of 19th-century Jewish American women novelists, short story writers, poets, and essayists who wrote in English.