As the founding editor of Studies in American Jewish Literature, Walden has been a shaping hand in the direction of American Jewish literary study. Walden does welcome justice to Potok’s originality and importance, and I highly recommend this book to all interested in Jewish American and American writing generally.” -Jules Chametzky, author of Out of Brownsville: Encounters with Nobel Laureates and Other Jewish Writers-A Cultural Memoir “I can think of nobody better than Daniel Walden to edit this outstanding collection of essays about the late writer Chaim Potok. Berger, Florida Atlantic University “Daniel Walden caps his distinguished career as a scholar, writer, editor, and esteemed pioneer in American Jewish literary studies with this sensitive and illuminating study of a side of American Jewish life not often, until recently, described in such lovely and moving prose as Potok’s. The novelist was a personal friend of Walden’s, and this volume can be seen as the editor's memorial to the late writer.” -Alan L. This skillfully edited work contains both critical essays and personal reflections by leading Potok experts. This masterful collection will stand as a forerunner to further significant criticism, and as an inspiration.” -Cynthia Ozick “Daniel Walden’s Chaim Potok: Confronting Modernity Through the Lens of Tradition is an invaluable contribution to our understanding of the crucial role played by Chaim Potok’s novels in examining the clash between modernity and faith.

“Daniel Walden has done American literature an uncommon and impressive service. Marovitz, Kathryn McClymond, Hugh Nissenson, Adena Potok, and Jonathan Rosen. Devir, Jane Eisner, Susanne Klingenstein, S. The volume includes a memoir by Adena Potok and ends with Chaim Potok’s “My Life as a Writer,” a speech he gave at Penn State in 1982.Īside from the editor, the contributors are Victoria Aarons, Nathan P. The essays illuminate the central struggle in Potok’s novels, which results from a profound desire to reconcile the appeal of modernity with the pull of traditional Judaism. This collection aims to widen the lens through which we read Chaim Potok and to establish him as an authentic American writer who created unforgettable characters forging American identities for themselves while retaining their Jewish nature.

With a plain, straightforward style, his novels were set against the moral, spiritual, and intellectual currents of the twentieth century. Chaim Potok was a world-class writer and scholar, a Conservative Jew who wrote from and about his tradition and the conflicts between observance and acculturation.

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