|
BOBC |
 |
 |
 |
|
Cohn, Jesse. "“I Revive, Renew, and Re-establish”: Mimetic Catastrophe in Ben Katchor's The Jew of New York." Critique. Studies in Contemporary Fiction 50. (2009): 365–76. Added by: joachim (10/21/09, 11:48 AM) |
 |
| Resource type: Journal Article Language: en: English Peer reviewed DOI: 10.3200/CRIT.50.4.365-376 BibTeX citation key: Cohn2009 Email resource to friend View all bibliographic details  |
Categories: General Keywords: "The Jew of New York", Judaism, Katchor. Ben, Mimesis, Representation, USA Creators: Cohn Collection: Critique. Studies in Contemporary Fiction |
Views: 17/1308
|
| Attachments |
| Abstract |
|
For all of its narrative complexity, Ben Katchor's The Jew of New York is tightly structured around a central motif: “mimetic catastrophe,” or the production of likenesses (imitations, resemblances, mimicries, and simulacra) in close and consistent association with disaster (exiles, degradations, murders, and conflagrations). This essay probes the possible significances of this motif in light of a number of important theories of mimesis, from ancient Jewish iconoclasm, for which representation blasphemes against a primary reality, to the varieties of postmodernism for which representation itself is the primary reality.
Added by: joachim |