Typical themes of first-generation American Jewish literature were depictions of assimilation, the contradictions of assimilation and nostalgia, personal success and regret over a crisis of Jewish identity. Representative writers of the first generation of Jewish literature include Marie Antin and Abraham Kahn. Marie Antin was born in Russia in 1881, came to the United States at the age of thirteen, and died in 1949. Her masterpiece "Promise Land" (1912) is an autobiography. Abraham Kahn was born in Russia in 1860. He immigrated to the United States in 1882 and died in 1951. Kahn was one of the founders of the Jewish Daily Forward and its editor-in-chief since 1911. In 1869, he published "Yekel - The Story of the New York Ghetto", which described a Jew who immigrated to the United States and was unwilling to erase his past life in Russia, his wife and son from his memory, and he also wanted to forget about it. It cannot be made consistent with the American way of life. Later, his wife came to the United States to find him. The two could not live together and finally divorced. His representative works include the novel "The Rise of David Lewinsky" (1917), in which he describes a poor Jewish boy who still misses his childhood after becoming a capitalist.
Between the first and second generations of American Jewish writers, there are two writers who connect the past and the future, namely Anzia Jerzyska and Samuel Olnitz. Female writer Anzia Jezeska was born in Russia in 1885. She is a writer of short stories and memoirs. Her work depicts life on New York City's Lower East Side. In 1920, Jezewska published a collection of short stories, "The Hungry Heart," which focused on the theme of "Americanization." Samuel Olnitz's Waist, Belly, and Jaw: An Autobiography was published in 1923. This book is different from the works of the first generation of American Jewish writers. It has the same "disrespectful" attitude towards "Americanization" as the second generation of American Jewish writers. The contradiction between tradition and assimilation became more prominent in the works of the second generation of American Jewish writers. Meyer Levin was born in Chicago in 1905. He worked as a journalist, actor, photographer, and novelist. He wrote many short stories reflecting Jewish life. His first novel, "The Correspondent" (1929), was suspended from publication due to accusations of libel. In 1937, he published "The Past", which reflected the life of his own generation. In the same year, Daniel Fuchs completed his Fort William trilogy, including Summer in Fort William (1934), Homage to Brünnhold (1936) and The Companion from Below. (1937). These three works revolve around plots such as suicide, murder, funerals and underworld, and describe a series of contradictions in different habits between two generations of Jews. The language is witty and full of humor.
After the war, many best-selling American Jewish literary works appeared. Novels such as Herman Walker's "Marjorie Morning Star" (1955), "War" (1971), Myron Kaufman's "Here Comes the Lord for Me" (1957), Leon Uris's " Exodus" (1958), as well as Barbara Probst Solomon's "The Beat of Life" (1960), Neil Oxnandra's "The Transformation of God" (1962), etc. Essays such as Harry Golden's "Just In America" ??(1959), "For Ordinary Two Cents", etc. Poems such as Carl Shapiro's "The Poems of a Jew" (1958), "The Swamp on the Prepet" (1965), John Holland's "The Crack of the Tribulus" (1958), "The Rambler's "Fantasy" (1965) and so on.
The most famous contemporary American Jewish writers include Saul Bellow, Norman Mailer, Bernard Malamud, Salinger and Philip Roth.