The promised land by mary antin, 1912 online research. The book focuses on her attempts to assimilate into the culture of the united states. Each new immigrant, in his or her own way, must negotiate the passage to becoming an american. Yet the study of american history, political principles, and national heroes has long played a. Specifically, halaby inverts the western gaze upon the arab world. Free kindle book and epub digitized and proofread by project gutenberg. As a child, she lived in the russian pale, the part of russia. The promised land by mary antin was published 1912, and it narrates the story of a jewish family immigrating from russia to the united states in fact it is the. It tells the story of her early life in what is now belarus and her immigration to the united states in 1894.
Antin immigrated to the united states with her mother, sisters, and brother in 1894, joining her father, who had preceded them in 1891, in massachusetts. Antin weaves the development of her own literacy into the narrative of her sister friedas labor on garments. The promised land was a bestseller when it was first published in 1912. So the jews found comfort in their ancient traditions. Jake podkovnik, david levinsky, and mary antin the protagonists. Eager to be merged in the better world in which they found themselves, the escaped prisoners determined on. The project gutenberg ebook of the promised land, by mary antin this ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. Only 30 years old when she published her autobiography, the promised land, mary antin captured the dreams and experiences of turnofthecentury russian jewish immigrants.
The promised land by mary antin free ebook project gutenberg. Inthe promised land, mary antin tells of moving from polotzk, russia, to boston, massachusetts, when she was around thirteen years old. Mary antins the promised land 1912 is perhaps the most famous of the. The promised land illustrated by mary antin nook book. Yet, according to the few critics who have written on jewish immigrant mary antins work, the meaning. She emigrated from polotzk to boston with her family in 1894, when she was thirteen.
The promised land is mary antins mature autobiography. I was born, i have lived, and i have been made over a very touching and beautiful written autobiography which reads like a novel. When mary antins father decided that keeping to his traditions did not suit him anymore, he found no place in russia. Mary antin and the jewish origins of the american self many jews will never see the promised land.
Free shipping get free shipping free 58 day shipping within the u. Page 223 and whereas formerly my selfconsciousness had bordered on conceit, and i thought myself an uncommon person, parading my schoolbooks through the streets, and swelling with pride when a teacher detained me in conversation, now i grew humble all at once, seeing how insignificant i was beside the great. Librivox recording of the promised land by mary antin. Mary antin was born in june of 1881 in polotzk, white russia what is now belarus. First published in 1912, the promised land is a classic account of the jewish american immigrant experience. Promised land by mary antin, free pdf, ebook global grey. I was in that period when even normal children, undisturbed in their customary environment, begin to explore their own. Mary antin 18811949 mary antin was born in polotzk in the pale of settlement, the area of czarist russia in which jews were allowed to live. Mary antin 1881 1949 being a jew in russia at the end of the 19th century was not easy at all.
Students are often unfamiliar with the time period treated in the promised land, especially so with aspects of the great migration and of immigrant settlement in america in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The promised land has been added to your cart add to cart. Self and other in mary antins the promised land mary antins autobiography, the promised land 1912, remains a peculiarly ambivalent work concerning the ambiguous ways in which the immigrant becomes americanized. Even when young, she became aware of how restricted life in russia was for jews. This is an autobiographical study of the immigrant, of what he brings to america, and what he finds here, and in it the author presents the case of the russian jews american citizenship in a new and vivid light. The promised land is the 1912 autobiography of mary antin. Ebscohost serves thousands of libraries with premium essays, articles and other content including assimilation in the promised land. Related to political movements or attitudes to achieve things. The project gutenberg ebook of the promised land, by mary antin. In fact, cr,x, land, is the fourth most frequent substantive in the hebrew bible. In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content michael p. Heath anthology of american literaturemary antin author page.
Mary antins ringing endorsement of americanizationof being made overwhich appeared in 1912 in her autobiography, the promised land, probably did. Laila halabys once in a promised land amanda lloyd abstract laila halabys once in a promised land 2007 offers instructive insight into the struggles facing arab americans in post 911 america. The promised land mary antin audiobook and ebook all. Like i was at a most impressionable age when i was transplanted to the new soil. Especially important is conveying to them the kinds of conditions the newly. In the old testament few issues are as important as that of the promise of the land to the patriarchs and the nation israel. She is best known for her 1912 autobiography the promised land, an account of her emigration and subsequent americanization. Mary and frieda antin in the promised land article in college literature 324. Being a jew in russia at the end of the 19th century was not easy at all. Mary antin emigrated with her family from the eastern european town of polotzk to boston in 1894, when she was twelve years old. The promised land is mary antin s mature autobiography. Mary antin 18811949 was born in polotsk, russia to a jewish family and emigrated to the united states settling in boston when she was only thirteen.
Like mary antins promised land, the sound and the fury posits the possession of language as central to the collective creation of americanness. Mary antin 18811949 and abraham cahan 18601951 wrote literary works that bore witness to the complexity and personal costs of assimilation. Antins description and stories of life in polotzk makes it easy for me to imagine what it might have been like for my family as well. Constraints of women in the jewish community lindsay kleiman although mary antin wrote the promised land in 1912 with the ostensible intention of shedding light on the jewishamerican immigrant experience for a nonjewish audience, one can see through close readings that this autobiography was also written to. The promised land by mary antin was published 1912, and it narrates the story of a jewish family immigrating from russia to the united states in fact it is the autobiography of antin, she put it in this way. In it, she tells the story of what she considers her escape from bondage in eastern europe and her finding of freedom in america. Mary antin was considered a child prodigy and published her first articles at the age of eighteen. Leaving home for the promised land, 1894, eyewitness to history. Mary antin, american author remembered for her autobiographical work the promised land and other books on immigrant life in the united states. The eastern european jewish immigrants in antins fictionalized autobiography the promised land 1912 and cahans novella yekl. As i read about the noble boy who would not tell a lie to save himself from.
In her classic immigrant autobiography, the promised land 1912, mary antin negotiates her own agency through a dialogue between labor and literacy. Having made such good time across the ocean, i ought to be able to proceed no less rapidly on terra firma, where, after all, i am more at home. The act of speech and the hearing of itreception as well as pronunciationis central to the selfcreation of national identity for faulkners characters. A very personal and very interesting look into the life of a young child moving away from her. The extract below is from her book the promised land. You may copy it, give it away or reuse it under the terms of the project gutenberg license included with this ebook or online at. When immigrants come into continuous firsthand contact with the new society to which they move, or are removed to, they try to accommodate their own customs and values to those they encounter in the new culture. Mary antin recounts the process of uprooting, transportation. I was born, i have lived, and i have been made over. Review of mary antins the promised land appears in the. I thought it a miracle, exclaimed mary antin in her bestselling autobiography, the promised land, written when she was just thirty years old, that i, mashke, the granddaughter of raphael the russian, born to a humble destiny, should be at home in an american metropolis, be free to fashion my own life, and should dream my dreams in english phrases. Interweaving introspection with political commentaries, biography with history, the promised land 1912 brings to life the transformation of an east european jewish immigrant into an american citizen.
The project gutenberg ebook of the promised land, by mary. I bought the promised land because some my ancestors came from poland and russia and settled in chelsea ma at around the same time. June, 1881 may 15, 1949 was an american author and immigration rights activist. This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. Her first book, describing her voyage from russia to the united states, was published in 1899.
May antin came to the united states from russia in the 1890s when she was a young girl. Index mary antin 18811949 mary antin 18811949 identity theories instrumentalist theory. The promised land is the autobiography of mary antin. The russian government allowed them few options in terms of where they could live and what work they could do. Publication date c1912 topics antin, mary, 18811949, jews united states, jews soviet union, united states emigration and immigration biography.
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