ABSTRACT
Demographically, nothing has been more remarkable in Jewish history than the immigration to America. Jewish immigrants wanted to be in America (they chose to come). America wanted them, for their expansionist potential. The Jewish body, particularly that of New York, was remarkable for its size, for its freedom, for its relative wealth and for its growing power. Jewish immigrants wanted to be in America. America wanted them, for their expansionist potential. The Jewish writer not only described the Jewish world, America, things in general, but often also advocated a solution or at least a direction. Artists, writers and architects of the Weimar Republic looked to America with anticipation and dread as the civilisation of Europe began to crumble into violence, totalitarianism and atavism. The American Jewish novel shows the Jew on the outside trying to get in (in various ways), or perhaps coming to terms with his outsider status.
