Social semiotics and memory in contemporary Jewish American fiction

Abstract

Despite being largely influenced by Israeli literature, contemporary Jewish American writers rarely draw upon Sephardic culture. This indicates a detachment from questions like the political ones Israeli writers emphasize, and points towards a tendency tofocus on the search for identity in a new country. The aim of this paper is to take a semiotic approach in examining this phenomenon from the standpoint of the Hebraism of American culture. I will take into account concepts of social semiotics to expand the analysis of discursive praxis, focusing also on extra and pre-textual elements. This will ultimately lead us to matters of memory, immigration, filiation and search for a national and cultural identity, which, in turn, must be seen from a historical viewpoint that cannot be set apart from discourse analysis itself.