News
Columbia Magazine’s Julia Joy interviews Professor Jeremy Dauber about his new book, American Scary: A History of Horror, from Salem to Stephen King and Beyond, which traces the nation’s enduring fascination with the macabre. Dauber reflects on why the horror genre deserves serious attention, the historical events that shaped it, and the reasons people are drawn to its dark and unsettling stories.
Read the full article via this link.
On June 12, 2023, Columbia Magazine published an interview with Jeremy Dauber, the Director Emeritus of the Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies and the Atran Professor of Yiddish Language, Literature and Culture. Dr. Dauber discusses the inspiration behind, and content of, his latest book, a biography of Mel Brooks titled Mel Brooks: Disobedient Jew (Yale University Press Jewish Lives, 2023).
The interview touches on Mel Brooks’ lasting relevance, the power of humor as a weapon against hate, and Brooks’ life in the context of the American Jewish story. An excerpt from the interview is quoted below; you can view this interview in full on Columbia Magazine’s website.
We are pleased to announce the release of a new book by Jeremy Dauber, the Atran Professor of Yiddish Language, Literature and Culture at Columbia University and Director Emeritus of the Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies.
Mel Brooks: Disobedient Jew (Yale University Press Jewish Lives, 2023) is a spirited dive into the life and career of a performer, writer, and director who dominated twentieth-century American comedy.
Mel Brooks, born Melvin Kaminsky in Brooklyn in 1926, is one of the great comic voices of the twentieth century. Having won almost every entertainment award there is, Brooks has straddled the line between outsider and insider, obedient and rebellious, making out-of-bounds comedy the American mainstream.
In Mel Brooks: Disobedient Jew, Jeremy Dauber considers Brooks’s extensive body of work, illuminating the man behind Your Show of Shows, Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, and Spaceballs. Dauber argues that Brooks has seen the most success when he has found a balance between his unflagging, subversive, manic energy and the constraints imposed by comedic partners, the Hollywood system, and American cultural mores.
Dauber also explores how Brooks’s American Jewish humor went from being solely for niche audiences to an essential part of the American mainstream, paving the way for generations of Jewish (and other) comedians to come. This is a book for anyone interested in movies, humor, American culture, or Jewishness.
The book is available for purchase through Yale University Press.
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“A glimpse into New York City at the turn of the 20th century can now be viewed at an exceptional level of detail: 6.5 million unique census records from 1850, 1880, and 1910 are pinpointed to residential addresses on the recently launched website Mapping Historical New York: A Digital Atlas. “ Read more here.
Columbia News caught up with Jeremy Dauber to interview him about his latest book, American Comics: A History, as well as which comics he read as a child, what he’s teaching this year, and who he would like to sit next to at a dinner party. Read more here.
"It’s a thorough—and thoroughly entertaining—work." Read more about American Comics: A History, Prof. Jeremy Dauber's latest book in Publisher's Weekly and The Wall Street Journal.
Want to hear more? Tune into a conversation about American Comics on KQED.
Adjunct Lecturer Isabelle Levy collaborated on an exhibition titled Los Corassones Avlan: Conversations on Jewish Life on the Island of Rhodes. The project is a collaboration between Kehila Kedosha Janina, the American Sephardi Federation, and Centro Primo Levi. The exhibit at 148 West 4th Street runs through November 24 is free and open to the public. For more information visit http://primolevicenter.org/.
Prof. Jeremy Dauber on his newest book, what he's working on, and who he'd invite to a dinner party.
Prof. Rebecca Kobrin lectured on the legacy of Jewish immigrants at the New City Jewish Center. Read more here.
Rebecca Kobrin's essay, "A Jewish American Success Story" was featured in the playbill of The Lehman Trilogy now playing at the Park Avenue Armory.
On March 28, Rebecca Kobrin briefed Mayor Bloomberg on the current rise in global anti-Semitism at Bloomberg News and on April 10, she was invited to participate in a small, high-level consultation with the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief about the trajectory of antisemitism in the United States at the American Jewish Committee.
Rebecca Kobrin spoke about Jewish migration to the United States at The Global Forum of the National Library of Israel (held March 17-19 in Jerusalem).
Jeremy Dauber gave a lecture on his latest book, now in paperback, Jewish Comedy, A Serious History at Ursinus College. Read about the lecture here.
Read about Prof. Jeremy Dauber’s book, “Jewish Comedy: A Serious History,” which is now out in paperback, in the Jewish Standard.
TIME spoke to Jeremy Dauber, a professor of Yiddish Language, Literature and Culture at Columbia University and author of Jewish Comedy: A Serious History, about the true story behind Mrs. Maisel‘s summer vacation. Read more at TIME.com.
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