Multicultural literature reproduces, not challenges, the orientalist trope of the Jew as essential Other
Evidence
As argued in the introduction and several essays in this volume, discourses about Muslims have always implied the Jews as an often unstated referent. Said had recognized that much when he labeled anti-Semitism the âsecret sharerâ of orientalism. While multicultural literature has problematized ethnic and racial difference (especially when it concerns the authorâs own ethnic identity), its representation of the Jew remains that of the âstandardâ (in Saidâs terms) orientalist representation of the Other. Multicultural literature has inherited the centuries-old trope of the Jew from Western literature, where the character of the Jew has often expressed essential, permanent Difference. â Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 732
Categorization
- XREF: Connects to Saidâs âsecret sharerâ framing and to Edward Saidâs Orientalism generally; also echoes the volumeâs thesis about Muslim discourse implying Jewish referents.
- QUESTION: Which specific multicultural texts does Kalmar then examine, and do any genuinely subvert the inherited trope or all merely reproduce it?