Praise for Loving Strangers
"A beautiful and moving story that brings to life a fascinating part of Jewish history" - Claudia Roden, (CBE) Egyptian-born British writer and cultural anthropologist
“With his latest book, Jay Prosser brings a fascinating new geography to the maps of Jewish roots memoirs. This odyssey to reclaim his Jewish identity through the memorabilia of his mother’s complex family history is both moving and compelling. A shimmering memoir of love’s work, healing for our fractured times.” - Nancy K. Miller, Author of What They Saved: Pieces of a Jewish Past
“Jay’s story is rich and fascinating. Through the prism of a family memoir, he shines a light on interracial marriage and its legacy, stories that have been previously taboo. He has written a beautiful book that will resonate with anyone who is interested in underrepresented cultures, and he is bold enough to rewrite history as we know it.” - Lily Dunn, Author of Sins of My Father: A Daughter, A Cult, A Wild Unravelling, co-founder London Lit Lab
“What is most moving to me in this gripping family memoir and diasporic Asian-European history is the account of how three generations inJay Prosser’s family actively choose Jewishness. Love and historical circumstances create a hybrid, affiliative form of Jewishness that remains strange and contingent, yet also affirming in a sense of belonging that is neither territorial nor identitarian.” - Marianne Hirsch, Author of The Generation of Postmemory: Narrative and Visual Culture After the Holocaust
Loving Strangers
Loving Strangers
Share
Pre-order NOW | Non-fiction | Hardback
Loving Strangers: A Camphorwood Chest, A Legacy, A Son Returns has already won the Hazel Rowley Prize (US, 2020) for the best proposal for a first-time biographer and was shortlisted for the Tony Lothian Prize (UK, 2019) for the best unpublished biography.
At its core, Jay Prosser is writing a family memoir that builds a bridge across the terrible divides of our times. It’s a Jewish book, but not Just a Jewish book. It moves Jewish writing away from its customary setting of the Holocaust and Europe, transporting Jewish identity instead to Iraq, India, China and Singapore: places and cultures that most people (including Jews themselves) don’t associate with Jewish identity. It shows Jews integrating with others, not divisive, not separate: not antagonistic.
The issue of intermarriage is increasingly important for all racial groups and this book speaks beyond the Jewish community, in relation to how we treat strangers in the form of immigrants and other communities.
Jay Prosser
Jay Prosser is a Reader in Humanities at the University of Leeds, where he specialises in Jewish studies and creative nonfiction. He has published academic books, including the first study of transsexual life writing, ‘Second Skins: The Body Narratives of Transsexuality’ (1998; Columbia UP), a book that continues to sell very well 25 years after publication; and ‘Light in the Dark Room: Photography and Loss’ (2004; Minnesota UP), an exploration of how writers have used photographs. He has worked on a book with Amnesty International examining the value of photographs of atrocity in our news media (Picturing Atrocity; Reaktion; 2012) and edited collections, including C20th American fiction, and gender and narrative. He has specialised in writing about Jews in Asia and Jews’ relations with other groups, particularly Arabs and Muslims. Visit his website, www.jayprosser.com