The Jew, the Beauty, and the Beast

"Harel's copiously researched and erudite book deftly examines the interrelation of Jewishness and animality in Modernist Hebrew literature. What emerges from her weaving together of ancient Judaic sources and contemporary gender and human-animal studies is a wonderfully syncretic and innovative analysis that elegantly, and importantly, fills a gap in this scholarship."

"For anyone who has wondered why it's always men tending meat on the grill, Harel provides an answer. Animals—in the slaughterhouse, on the table, in the house, and on the streets—define gender roles in modernist Hebrew literature. Riding a thrilling new wave of animal studies, Harel brilliantly reveals the hidden links among Jews, genders, and animals."

Contents

Introduction: Animalized Women, Effeminate Jews                                                                        

Part I   Transgressing Predator-Prey Dynamics

1          Of Non-Predators and Men: The Talush'sCarnal and Carnivorous Abstinence                   

2          Of Predators and Women: The Fatal Maneater         

3          Of Cocks and Men: The Gever between Virility and Vulnerability 
 

Part II  The Shared Oppression of Women and Animals in Devorah Baron's Work

4          Of Dogs and Women: Devorah Baron's Feminist Canine Tales 

5          Of Cows and Women: Devorah Baron's Bovinized Heroines 

Conclusion

Acknowledgments
Notes                                                                                                                                      
Works Cited                                                                                                               
Index              

Introduction: Animalized Women,
Effeminate Jews 1
Part I Transgressing Predator-Prey
Dynamics
1 Of Nonpredators and Men: The Talush’s Carnal and
Carnivorous Abstinence 13
2 Of Predators and Women:
The Fatal Man-Eater
35
3 Of Cocks and Men: The Gever between Virility and
Vulnerability 56
Part II The Shared Oppression of Women
and Animals
in Devorah Baron’s Work
4 Of Dogs and Women:
Devorah Baron’s Feminist
Canine Tales 77
5 Of Cows and Women:
Devorah Baron’s Bovinized
Heroines 98
Conclusion 117
Acknowledgments
121
Notes 123
Works Cited 139
Index 000