Michael Weingrad, a professor of Jewish Studies, has written an excellent essay on the dearth of fantasy literature written from a Jewish perspective: "Why There Is No Jewish Narnia". I'm more of a science-fiction kind of guy, but I was surprised by this. I mean, if Orson Scott Card can write fantasy from a Mormon perspective (the Alvin Maker series), why wouldn't there be much more written from a much older and deeper religious tradition? While science-fiction has tended in the past to be iconoclastic in terms of religion -- although I sense a change in direction in this recently, such as in the novels of John Scalzi and John Ringo -- there is still a significant amount of science-fiction written from a Jewish perspective, not to mention an Islamic perspective. So, again, why this absence of Jewish fantasy literature?
Weingrad answers this by inserting his in-depth knowledge of Judaism and its history into an also in-depth knowledge of fantasy (as well as SF and related genres). The result is an outstanding essay that I simply can't quote in part. Read the whole thing.
The hebrew culture and Judaism are rich on folk stories and mythology. One only has to remember something like Golem. It is a shame there is no good contemporary jewish fantasy.
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