"A fine addition to scholarship, lending valuable insights into how contemporary American Jewish identity is both reflected and refracted in the postmodern age."-Lester Friedman, author of Hollywood's Image of the Jew

The past few decades have seen a remarkable surge in Jewish influences on American culture. Entertainers and artists such as Jerry Seinfeld, Adam Sandler, and Tony Kushner have heralded new waves of television, film, and theater; a major klezmer revival is under way; bagels are now as commonplace as pizza; and kabalah has become as cool as crystals. Does this broad range of cultural expression accurately reflect what it means to be Jewish in America today?

Bringing together fourteen essays by leading scholars, You Should See Yourself examines the fluctuating representations of Jewishness in a variety of areas of popular culture and high art, including literature, the media, film, theater, music, dance, painting, photography, and stand-up comedy. Contributors explore the evolution that has taken place within these cultural forms, whether transformations have been gradual or sudden, and how we can best explain these changes. Are variations in our understanding of Jewishness the result of general phenomena such as multiculturalism, politics, and postmodernism, or are they the product of more specifically Jewish concerns such as the intermarriage/continuity crisis, religious renewal, and relations between the United States and Israel?

An introduction by Vincent Brook frames the essays by comparing Jewish identity in American culture to the fractured identities that are the norm in postmodern society. Accessible to students and general readers alike, this volume takes an important step toward advancing the discussion of Jewish cultural influences in this country.

Vincent Brook is the author of Something Ain't Kosher Here: The Rise of the "Jewish" Sitcom. He is an adjunct professor of film, television, and cultural studies at the University of Southern California; California State University, Los Angeles; and Los Angeles Pierce College.

Acknowledgments
INTRODUCTION
Seeing Isn't Believing by VINCENT BROOK
LITERATURE
Introduction
Re-Imagining the "Jew's" Body: From Self-Loathing to "Grepts" by ANDREA MOST
Recalling "Home" from Beneath the Shadow of the Holocaust: American Jewish Women Writers of the New Wave by JANET HANDLER BURSTEIN
THEATER
Introduction
"Your World Is Very Different from Mine": Troubling Jewish Identity in Postmodern American Theatre by JAN LEWIS
Tony Kushner's Metaphorical Jew by JAMES FISHER
MUSIC
Introduction
Exploring the Postmodern Landscape of Jewish Music by JUDAH M. COHEN
Continuity, Creativity, and Conflict: The Ongoing Search for "Jewish" Music by MARSHA BRYAN EDELMAN
DANCE
Introduction
The Jewish Man and His Dancing Shtick: Stock Characterization and Jewish Masculinity in Postmodern Dance by REBECCA ROSSEN
PAINTING AND PHOTOGRAPHY
Introduction
Between Exile and Irony: Modernism, Postmodernism, and Jewish Modes of Thought by RUTH WEISBERG
Observant Jews and the Photographic Arena of Looks by DEBORAH DASH MOORE AND MACDONALD MOORE
FILM
Introduction
Joke-Work: The Construction of Jewish Postmodern Identity In Contemporary Theory and American Film by RUTH D. JOHNSTON
They Are All Jews by DANIEL ITZKOVITZ
STAND-UP COMEDY
Introduction
Genealogies of Jewish Stand-up: Looking Back, Moving Beyond by DONALD WEBER
TELEVISION
Introduction
"Y'all Killed Him, We Didn't!": Jewish Self-Hatred and The Larry Sanders Show by VINCENT BROOK
Something Old Is New Again? Postmodern Jewishness in Curb Your Enthusiasm, Arrested Development, and The O.C. by MICHELE BYERS AND ROSALIN KRIEGER
Contributors
Index