Academic Writing Faculty Continues Fall 2016 Book Talks

• Oct. 10: Cartoonist Amy Kurzweil’s book launch where she’ll give a reading, and Dr. Oksman will be lead a brief Q&A with her afterwards. More information here. 
• Oct. 26: A conversation with New Yorker cartoonist Liana Finck at the Center for Jewish History. 
• Oct 31: A lunch talk on her book at the Kelly Writers House at the University of Pennsylvania, sponsored by the Wexler Program in Jewish Literature and Culture. More info here.
• Nov 17: A conversation with Professor Jeremy Dauber at Columbia University about the book:

American comics reflect the sensibilities and experiences of the Jewish-American men who played an outsized role in creating them, but what about the contributions of Jewish women?

Professor Oksman analyzes the visionary work of seven contemporary female Jewish cartoonists to show us the ambiguous, unstable, and contradictory figurations in these artists’ representations of Jewishness. 

About the Book

Dr. Oksman isolates the dynamic Jewishness that connects each frame in the autobiographical comics of Aline Kominsky Crumb, Vanessa Davis, Miss Lasko-Gross, Lauren Weinstein, Sarah Glidden, Miriam Libicki, and Liana Finck. Rooted in a conception of identity based as much on rebellion as identification and belonging, these artists’ representations of Jewishness take shape in the spaces between how we see ourselves and how others see us. They experiment with different representations and affiliations without forgetting that identity ties the self to others. Stemming from Kominsky Crumb’s iconic 1989 comic “Nose Job,” in which her alter ego refuses to assimilate through cosmetic surgery, Oksman’s study is an arresting exploration of invention in the face of the pressure to disappear.

Use the offer code OKSHOW to receive a 30% discount when ordering through Columbia University Press here. 

Published: October 07, 2016