Chaim Potok Summary

Chaim Potok "wrote of what he knew best, Jewish-Americans in the 20th century struggling with two contradictory yet valid points of view," according to Shirley Saad writing for the United Press Intern... Read more

Chaim Potok, rabbi and critical scholar of Judaic texts, has demonstrated in his literary career that the American novel is indeed a viable genre for writing about Jewish theology, liturgy, history, a... Read more

Critical Essay by Barbara Amiel To read Chaim Potok's Wanderings, a superbly written … history of the Jews, is to understand why [the] theme of vengeance is so much a part of Jewish his... Read more

Critical Essay by Jack Riemer Chaim Potok has not written a scholarly history of the Jews. No one person could possibly do that…. But what Potok has done [in Wanderings] is to dramatize all of... Read more

Critical Essay by Michael Irwin In the Beginning relates the changing fortunes and attitudes of the Luries, a Jewish family living in the Bronx. In particular it is the story of David, the narrator, ... Read more

Critical Essay by Book World—the Washington Post Babylonian chroniclers wrote, in two columns, the histories of Assyria and Babylonia side by side; during their captivity in Babylonia, Jewish ... Read more

Critical Essay by Erich Isaac The novelist's hand is evident in the flow of the narrative and the often felicitous turns of phrase [in Wanderings: Chaim Potok's History of the Jews]. De... Read more

Critical Essay by Ruth R. Wisse Chaim Potok in The Book of Lights has adapted his by now standard structure to the story of yet another mild Jewish insubordinate. In each of Potok's previous n... Read more

In the following review, Reed discusses Davita's Harp, Potok's early literary career, and reception of his fiction in the Jewish community. Chaim Potok and his wife, Adena, chanced up... Read more

In the following review, Abrahamson finds shortcomings in I Am the Clay, citing Potok's "unsuccessful foray into the realm of existentialist thought" and his simplistic appeal for... Read more

In the following review, Barringer praises The Gates of November as a "fascinating" tale, though finds shortcomings in Potok's overreaching history of Soviet Jewry. Acts of dis... Read more

In the following review, the critic finds shortcomings in Wanderings but marks the presence of "occasionally brilliant" passages. Babylonian chroniclers wrote, in two columns, the his... Read more

In the following essay, Timmerman examines the tension among individuality, personal growth, and the force of tradition in Potok's fiction. During the past decade Chaim Potok has emerged not... Read more