The comedic work of the children of modern Jewish immigrants overturned the prevailing languages and imageries with which an Anglocentric United States had traditionally represented and expanded itself. In ^IGravity Fails: The Comic Jewish Shaping of Modern America^R, James D. Bloom approaches these developments by first surveying this transformation as it affected literature, entertainment, commerce, and politics, and then offers sharply focused chapters that look at changes in sexual candor, reactions to the Holocaust, and critiques of race.Indeed, the personae discussed here pioneered unprecedented candor toward and scrutiny about sex and violence, and no other book delves as deeply or as widely among art forms, media, and levels of cultural hierarchy. Including considerations of the work of such diverse artists as Woody Allen, Mel Brooks, Lenny Bruce, Gilda Radner, Philip Roth, Jerry Seinfeld, and Stephen Sondheim, Gravity Fails provides a unique, penetrating, and hilarious look at a major force in the progress of American culture.

Examines the mid-century flourishing of comedy and satire-including that found in writing, performing, filmmaking, and songwriting-produced by children of modern Jewish immigrants

AcknowledgmentsPrefaceChutzpah in the Promised Land: An OvertureThe Revolt of the HornyTalking Heads Shrinking HeadsNazi FolliesA Blonder Shade of DarkLost Tribes: A ConclusionNotesWorks CitedIndex