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Chaim Potok: My Name is Asher LevReading the Novel as a Work of Postmodern FictionChaim Potok's award winning bestseller, My Name is Asher Lev, captures the heart of readers and stands as a great work of postmodern fiction.
The AuthorChaim Potok, an orthodox Jew, grew up wanting to become an artist. His family called it foolishness so he gave it up in favor of literature. While his parents were more supportive of literature, they wanted him to pursue an education for something useful that would make him a rich man. After graduating from the Seminary he decided not to join the church but to write and teach instead. The PlotAsher Lev, born a Hasidic Jew, is forced to choose between the traditions of his people, which have been practiced for generations, and his undying and often compulsive obsession with drawing the world as he sees it. In art, he is a child prodigy. As a son, he is a failure. Ultimately, it is Asher Lev’s obsession with art that alienates him from his family and sends him into the arms of his mentor, an unorthodox, non-practicing Jew named Jacob Kahn. Jacob nurtures Asher’s talent for painting through puberty and into manhood, insisting that good art has no religious boundaries. This idea shakes Asher to the very core as he struggles to balance his life between both art and his Hasidic roots. The painting that will define him as an artist will also be the painting that separates him from his family and community forever. Brooklyn Crucifixion depicts Asher’s mother, Rivkeh, crucified on a cross as a symbol of her internal struggle between her husband and her son. Postmodern FictionPostmodern Fiction is a particular genre of literature spanning from about 1941 until the end of the Cold War that severely questions knowledge and how mankind comes to use it. After WWII, it became apparent that the world was emerging as a technological powerhouse and questions began to arise as to whether or not having the technology to destroy each other meant that we necessarily should. Authors began to reject the foundations that most of their knowledge was based upon. The idea of “good literature” and “bad literature” no longer had any meaning as authors were creating unreliable characters in texts that talked directly to the readers. Postmodern fiction emerged as a blurring of boundaries and an undercutting of traditional knowledge. Postmodern AnalysisPotok uses My Name is Asher Lev as a way to challenge decency, a very postmodern idea. Asher becomes a man devoted to God, but continues to paint nudes and crucifixions because it helps him become a good artist. These paintings are considered indecent to his faith yet he continues to paint them because it is a long standing tradition among artists. It shows the concrete boundaries between religion and art. My Name is Asher Lev asks a hard question: “Is art an extension of God’s work?” Answers begin to take shape as Chaim Potok parallels Asher’s ability to paint with the world’s use of technology. Just because he has the ability to paint a brilliant painting doesn’t mean he necessarily should. Painting his mother’s image on a crucifixion brings heartache and despair to his devoutly Hasidic parents, forcing Asher to leave his home forever. Asher’s love for his mother is a major theme throughout the book and it is clear that he paints her out of tribute. When dealing with any religion that is so devout in its faith, people aren’t going to see the meaning behind art, just what is on the surface. Chaim Potok’s postmodern answer is therefore: “Yes, art is an extension of God, but only when it doesn’t hurt people.” Potok, Chaim. My Name is Asher Lev. New York: Anchor Books, 2003. ISBN 978-1-4000-3104-7
The copyright of the article Chaim Potok: My Name is Asher Lev in Modern American Fiction is owned by Jessica Workman. Permission to republish Chaim Potok: My Name is Asher Lev in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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