Book Club Kicks Off with Philip Roth

Black Americans, Jewish Americans: Racial and Ethnic "Passing" in Literature and the Struggle to Belong     Virtual Book Club   Presented in partnership with the New Brunswick Free Public Library, the New Brunswick African American Heritage Committee, and the Rutgers University Libraries–New Brunswick     Session One: June, 5, 7:00 p.m. The Human Stain by Philip Roth   Session Two: June 26, 7:00 p.m. Passing by Nella Larsen   Free and open to the public     Professor Donavan L. Ramon will lead discussions of key themes in each novel as well as comparisons between the two books. Ramon is assistant professor of English at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and served as the Bildner Visiting Scholar at Rutgers in fall 2023. His first novel, Striking Features: Psychoanalysis and Racial Passing Narratives, was published this year by Mercer University Press. It explores the psychoanalytic motivations for jumping the color line in African American literature.     Presented in conjunction with the interdisciplinary symposium "Black Americans, Jewish Americans: Historical Intersections, Collisions, and Passings" and made possible by a grant from the New Jersey Council for the Humanities, a state partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities.     Donate Now   Thank you for your support!   Your gift enables the Bildner Center to make a meaningful impact in the community, fostering engagement with Jewish identity, culture, and history.