| Abstract |
"Stanley Kubrick: New York Jewish Intellectual locates Kubrick in the intellectual milieu of New York, considering how his origins and ethnicity impacted his work. Although Kubrick was not defined as a New York Intellectual, a member of that group of self-defined American writers and literary critics based in New York City in the mid-twentieth century, he was still a part of their company. There were many similarities between Kubrick and the Jewish New York Intellectuals: Kubrick's films engaged with the same dilemmas and explored the same paradoxes as they did. In many ways his lifelong commitments mirrored theirs, and he took part in many of the same debates through his work, reflecting the concerns of the post-Holocaust world. Stanley Kubrick argues that in his films, Kubrick manifested a New York Jewish sensibility. Although Kubrick said very little about his religion or ethnicity, its impact is apparent in his films where the Holocaust is approached obliquely. His films were clearly involved in the search for meaning, much of which can be attributed to a Jewish upbringing that influenced him, consciously or otherwise. Thus his films did engage with Jewish texts and his secular identity was much more complex than the labels of atheism and agnosticism suggest. Kubrick demonstrated a commitment to the dynamics of ethics and ethnicity that also informed his craft, like working with identifiably Jewish actors and actresses"-- Provided by publisher. |
