First, the brainy and still making my head spin around with the ideas: from the brand new Jewish Review of Books. The author, Michael Weingrad, examines why there is no Jewish fantasy author on par with Tolkein and Lewis, particularly given the depth and history of Jewish mysticism.
His answers and ideas are so thoughtful and interesting I am still pondering, and I had to share. If you’re a fantasy or science fiction fan, this article looks at the genres from allegorical perspectives, and draws some conclusions as to why Jewish writers number very few among the fantasy genre:
Some readers may have already expressed surprise at my assertion that Jews do not write fantasy literature. Haven’t modern Jewish writers, from Kafka and Bruno Schulz to Isaac Bashevis Singer and Cynthia Ozick, written about ghosts, demons, magic, and metamorphoses? But the supernatural does not itself define fantasy literature, which is a more specific genre. It emerged in Victorian England, and its origins are best understood as one of a number of cultural salvage projects that occurred in an era when modern materialism and Darwinism seemed to drive religious faith from the field. Religion’s capacity for wonder found a haven in fantasy literature….
To put it crudely, if Christianity is a fantasy religion, then Judaism is a science fiction religion. If the former is individualistic, magical, and salvationist, the latter is collective, technical, and this-worldly. Judaism’s divine drama is connected with a specific people in a specific place within a specific history. Its halakhic core is not, I think, convincingly represented in fantasy allegory. In its rabbinic elaboration, even the messianic idea is shorn of its mythic and apocalyptic potential. Whereas fantasy grows naturally out of Christian soil, Judaism’s more adamant separation from myth and magic render classic elements of the fantasy genre undeveloped or suspect in the Jewish imaginative tradition. Let us take two central examples: the magical world and the idea of evil.
Christianity has a much more vivid memory and even appreciation of the pagan worlds which preceded it than does Judaism.
If you like a little analysis, comparative religion and discussion of world building and fantastic allegory with your coffee, enjoy that. I’m still pondering and would love to hear what you think.
From the brainful to the bodaciously awesome, we have one link containing a whollle lot of awesome: bid early, bid often in the 2010 Brenda Novak Diabetes Auction. Bid Early, Bid Often. I have one item up for bid, an author interview that may or may not create a lifetime of minty-fresh breath.
And finally: brainful, bodaciously awesome, and… Bwuhr? Everything I need to know about the internet, I learned from Fandom Wank. Today’s lesson, fanfic!
Fanfic is a hot topic, and no, not the kind where you shop for really tiny t shirts and shorts that require a bikini wax. Some authors hate it, some loathe it, and Diana Gabaldon wants to set it on fire. I much prefer , which uses Creative Commons licenses to delineate what belongs to whom and wherefore and why and whatnot.
LauraBryannan wisely states in the thread that, “If something is popular, there will be a fandom created for it.” Is this the wrong time to confess I totally wrote Archie/Betty fanfic based on Archie comics? Probably. I can’t believe he ended up with Veronica. I think I might have to go find that middle school notebook of mine.
Either that, or I need some hot Jewish fantasy fanfic, like, Right Now. Who’s in?
I was thinking of commenting to say that I write Jewish fantasy
fanfic
, but in reality, my writing is mostly agnostic. I make a point of being very vague on the topic of gods, while remaining pretty specific about how spirituality and religion make a part of the characters’ lives. Of course, I’m not published (and may never be), so that might be moot.
Thanks for these links; very interesting!
Diana Gabaldon is complaining that fanfic has sex in it? Hee.
Okay, this really set a fire in me. And not in the way Ms. Galbadon likes to think of personal fires, either.
I’ve never read her, but she is on my list, and for good reasons, but as someone who started out writing fanfiction, it hits hard. I did it when I was in eighth grade, and despite what Ms. Galbadon doesn’t seem to understand, it provided me excellent practice. MY writing and MY characters and MY dialogue got better. I did it off of video games, came up with my own plots and versions of flexible characters. But I needed a crutch. A fanfiction is like riding with training wheels – you get a basic idea of what writing a story is like, and you get the idea of how you make characters react to each other. My romances got better, my language improved, EVERYTHING did.
Not only this, but it’s fun. I mean, it makes me angry to think that this author doesn’t understand the concept of writing for fun. Even when you write for yourself, the idea of sharing it is always enjoyable, because giving others joy is a big part of the process, too. I don’t get why she feels so badly about it – people know it isn’t her writing these stories, or supporting them, and clearly they read her books if they look for more.
To be devil’s advocate, now that I’ve begun finding my voice, I don’t think I can go back to writing fan fiction. I like my own thoughts too much. But it remains a good starting point, especially for people that are iffy about writing. I know I didn’t even think of writing for fun and for originality until after I saw how fun it was through fan fiction. And plus, fan fiction introduced me to gay characters in romance…and that is a huge thing for me. 😛
Wow, long post. ^^ Hope it helps some people understand fan fiction isn’t some horribly disgusting thing. Frankly, I am more wary of Galbadon as a writer, now that I know she feels like people like me aren’t good because we started somewhere. It makes me wonder if she REALLY understands what fan fiction is for.
I have no problem with Gabaldon not liking and therefore not allowing fanfic about her books to be written. I do have a HUGE problem with her generalizations and comparing fanfic writers with burglars, rapists, and pedophiles. Sometimes it’s better to say less.
I’m really dissappointed in her and I’ve been a huge fan of her books for years.
I think I’m done buying and recommending her books. I can’t stand when an author has such disdain for their own fans.
that first link made no sense, so i sent it around to a few interested practicioners and also immediately got this thread reference response:
http://fjm.livejournal.com/907353.html
which begins by destroying the concept:
and then it gets interesting, for instance
Okay, so there’s no Jewish Narnia. I just want to know why finding romance novels with Jewish main characters is so razzen-frazzen hard! If I type in the words “Jewish” and “Romance” into my library’s search engine I get three items – THREE. They are “The Saturday Wife”, “The Romance Reader,” and “The Way We Were.”
That’s IT!
I want to know why a religion that finds sex so important that Rabbis have sat down and figured out according to occupation how many times a year a husband must sexually pleasure his wife, where sex on the Sabbath is encouraged, is so under represented in romance novels.
Fantasy smantasy, I want my Jewish romance novel heroes and heroines!
I would LOVE to read such books. Studying Greek/Roman mythology, Christianity, Norse mythology, Eastern mysticism, and the like, I’ve found there are often more similar motifs and symbolism than differences that would enrich any story. Bring it on!
I am in total agreement with Weingrad when he says that Judaism, with regard to
I think very few religions and cultures have their rich depths explored or utilised to make the valid points about human identity that fantasy literature often makes using christian beliefs. Perhaps this exploration is not what fantasy literature is about. But perhaps again there is simply no one interested in both writing of this sort and wants to, or can adequately, explore religious ideology in this manner.
I think both Judaism (from what I know of it) and many other religions, contrary to Michael Weingrad’s opinion, have a heavy core of myth and mysticism that could be utilised for allegory or depth within world building. Actually, perhaps couching the detailed daily rituals and philosophical concepts that have such specific names and histories as mysticism is what stops their use in fantasy. Perhaps because they are in such widespread use they cannot be regarded as myth and fantasy whereas Christianity, with the exception of maybe orthodox-catholic, sees its biblical stories as only allegory- a tool to teach. I don’t mean to generalise but it seems other religions regard stories or concepts as both reality and allegory at the same time. For us, perhaps putting something that is actually practised both as a conceptual thought and a daily ritual into fantasy you have to first make it a myth to allow it to work as a reality in another world. However, another part of me thinks- what’s wrong with that?!
I am a Muslim living in the West and when I write Fantasy/Sci-fi most of my mythology stems from Christian/Roman-Greek mysticism and belief. There is such a dirth in most religions including Judaism, Hinduism and Islam that would be prime allegorical material for reference within this kind of literature but as much as I TRY and use specific religious imagery/ ideas within it, I can’t ever quite convey those elements within my writing satisfactorily. Perhaps it is because I am not a good enough writer or that I think other religions are to tied to the language/s I associate with them and thus I can not convey them adequately outside of them. Or that the practitioners of these faiths in the West are more shorn of these mystical elements living in a sort of atheistic, scientific society. If I was in Israel (perhaps not Tel Aviv!) or in Syria or in India I could find elements of the more mythological that would allow me to write convincingly.
Sometimes I do think I can takes elements such as the idea of the unseen or unknowable world, the ‘ghaib’ in Islam, and use it but I think I do worry about where I cross the line from exploration to blasphemy. (In case anyone is thinking it: my lack of or ability to use it has nothing to do with my fear of fatwa-dom. Although I’m sure if this novel ever got created and then published and then it was offensive to someones sensibilities, then that wouldn’t hurt the sales any :P)
Sorry for the ramble and apologies if it’s not decipherable but I just had to get my thoughts down!
I’m sort of scratching my head over Diana Gabaldon. Do I, or do I not, remember her position on the Cassie Edwards scandal as being in the “plagiarism isn’t any kind of a big deal” camp?? Maybe it’s “unless it’s of my stuff?”
The Outlander series was one of my favorites ever. I’ve read the first three books countless times. But I remember being deeply disappointed in Gabaldon over the Edwards thing and her post on fanfic sort of deepens it in a “gee lady, you’re kind of a hypocrit aren’t you?” kind of way.
Do you think a basic difference might also arise out the concept of conversion? Christians are evangelistic and believe in actively recruiting people to their religion. Judaism is pretty much the opposite. Some schools allow for conversation, but not all (or even most) sects. I could be totally off here, but something about this basic difference in outlook and purpose is striking.
And yeah, there are lots of Jewish writers in the Science Fiction and Fantasy sections. Silverburg’s Majipoor books were pretty seminal for me. Far more so than the Narnia ones, which I was never able to get in to.
YAY! Finally a fan-fic policy that makes sense! (And doesn’t insult the readership.) Thank you, Jim Butcher. As for Diana Gabaldon, I agree with robinjn. I’m pretty disappointed, because she didn’t even TRY to think harder about finding a solution to the eBay Cancer Lady Issue, and because she didn’t even TRY to remember that the people writing good/bad/ugly fan-fic about her characters are the same people BUYING HER BOOKS.
@ktg I find it humorous that anyone thinks they’re allowing/not allowing people to write fic. You can get the big fic sites to disallow tagged and labelled fic of your stuff because they don’t like dealing with your lawyers, but stopping people from writing it is impossible, and if you’re worried about someone making money from it, driving them into the world of zines is not the way to prevent that either.
Considering how dismissive she is of romance in general (and how eager she is to assert that she does NOT write romance), it’s unsurprising to me that she’d take the position that Edwards’ plagiarism was not worth making a fuss over. It’s all junk to her, why would she care?
Another really interesting post responding to that “Why there is no Jewish Narnia piece” here. An excerpt:
Mostly, though, I found myself thinking about the fact that the author strikes me as looking for “Jewish fantasy” in the wrong place: in the trappings of the worldbuilding. I’ve only written two clearly Jewish stories (one dealing with Hanukkah and issues around violence/nonviolence; the other dealing with Passover and vampires). But of course all my stories are Jewish. It informs my worldview. I don’t construct narratives quite the same way a Christian, or a Muslim, or a Tohono O’Odham writer.
@Tifferet
Lots of authors say they do not want fanfiction written about their books. What usually happens is the bigger sites won’t allow those stories to get posted. I do not think it stops people from writing it. It’s just harder to find.
But if that makes authors happy? Great.
What makes me angry is how she is comparing fanfiction to stealing, breaking and entering, husband stealing, etc.
Way to alienate your fanbase.
Jim Butcher is a very talented writer and a mensch to boot.
What is it with hysterical diva authors? Do they honestly fear that people will mistake fanfic for cannonical works? Do they think fanfic somehow despoils or dilutes their brand and if so, WTF? As long as fanfic authors don’t attempt to make money off their stories, who’s harmed and is it really an infringement of copyright (IANAL)?
Gabaldon’s tirade reminds me of the poor author whose id exploded all over an Amazon reviewer (don’t remember the author – it was the stellar feller galactic competition book). Or Alice Hoffman’s tweeting of the Boston Globe reviewer’s personal contact info, or the historian who went beserk on a reviewer’s website.
I wonder how many authors, if they took Sasha Baron Cohen’s questionnaire, would land firmly inside the autism spectrum? I guess it would make sense. Many writers are introverts and writing is a solitary, often lonely, occupation. So perhaps a lot of them never developed adequate social skills.
The hair trigger outrage, inability to distinguish criticism from personal attack (or literary homage from child rape) or to disagree with other adults in a socially acceptable manner, the poor impulse control…it’s either autism, or these speshul flowers* with their fragile little psyches shouldn’t have any contact with the reading public or anyone else outside the voices in their own heads.
*I first saw the term in a comments thread here and I use it a lot now….
@John J.
I totally agree with you.
Fanfiction isn’t done for profit, it isn’t done to insult the original author and it’s a really good way for (especially teenagers) to start getting into writing and see if they have a flair for it when, let’s face it a lot of them wouldn’t bother otherwise. Those who do have talent tend to go on to write original work, those that don’t carry on being fans of the source material. No harm no foul.
The line about people using her characters in fanfic (is there a lot of Outlander fanfic out there?) being akin to seducing her husband is pretty damn funny though. There’s getting close to your characters and getting close to your characters.
Well, LKH admits to Christmas shopping for her characters . . . and Anne Rice isn’t a whole lot more connected to reality when it comes to Lestat.
Sarah, for the record Archie did NOT end up with Veronica. It was all a three issue imaginary story which was followed by a three issue imaginary story where he married Betty. The two stories were pretty cute though.
I’d like to throw out an additional reason out there why Judaism and fantasy have not meshed the way Christian (and its subsumed pagan) traditions have. Christianity has a template for a hero, drawing on other mythic traditions, and while their hero’s ultimate triumph hasn’t yet happened, the important stuff has. The world has already been saved, or at least, salvation has been offered. Good has triumphed, and if Evil has not yet been eradicated, it totally will be, really soon. (Any day now….)
The main tropes in Judaism, on the other hand, are not of triumph but of endurance. So many holidays—and historical occurrences—can be summed up with, “They tried to kill us, but we lived (yay for God who helped us not all die).” Fighting back without being slaughtered wholesale is something that we’ve only been able to do for the past sixty-some years.
As worthy as endurance is (and as glad I am that we have endured) it would be very difficult to build up a comparable fantasy tradition around simply not dying. Even the heroes in the Tanakh are either flawed or of the quiet sort—and I think that too goes back to something that was said above. Along with the lack of proselytizing is the lack of a burning need to save the world through grand, sweeping gestures—tikkun olam is just how you live, which is incompatible with bashing people with swords or toasting them with fireballs.
So I don’t think that a Jewish Lord of the Rings is possible, but I don’t think that’s a bad thing. What we need is a Jewish something-else-awesome-in-a-different way—and, just as important, the market to support it.
Also, if it takes the author of the original works a while to get the next book, fanfic can help keep the fanbase alive. It’s been ages since I read fanfic, and longer since I wrote any (I sucked, but it was so much fun to do), but everything I read and wrote was intended to tide me over until the next book or to fill in gaps left by the original story. I don’t see that as a bad thing.
All I know is if anyone liked my world and my characters enough to take the time to write their own stories and share them with other readers, I’d be rapturously thrilled.
Seriously, it’s like my sister complaining that she hasn’t lost enough weight and her husband won’t let her buy new furniture. I’d gladly trade bodies and budgets with you, baby, now STFU…..
@Quizabella
Exactly! The idea that fan fiction is bad is so lame-ass and annoying. It made me into a pretty good writer, especially for a teenager, and while most of my fan fics will never be updated or read again by me, they represent important stages in my development. Plus, without them, I would never have discovered my flair for writing. I was interested in reading and writing them, and eventually just matured out of them. And for profit? I find that funny. Akin to Nora Roberts’ dislike of them, too. For her I think it’s a matter of being sued in case she accidentally uses a plot, considering all of her books that are published…Which is understandable, but rarely do I think an author and fan fiction writer have qualms with legal decisions. The writers do it for fun, the authors for fun and profit.
And her reaction was so messed up. Talk about overdramatic. I agree with the possible introvert theory. I mean, if you really get that worked up about it, you may spend too much time with everything. And comparing it to cheating on her husband? Wow. Just wow.
@LG
Exactly! I stayed with Harry Potter long after the books ended because I became obsessed with Draco/Harry haha. While it was childish, it helped me get some gay romance in, and it kept the obsession alive a little longer. It’s kinda gone now, but I remember reading the fan fiction with fond memories. I think the problem with some fandoms is that they are so popular that everyone wants to write a hit fic. The smaller ones generally have better ones, because its a smaller fanbase who are more focused.
On the fan-fiction front. I started reading it to tide me over between Harry Potter books. I got hooked on one author who was awesome.
Then I found out she writes her own books and still has fun doing the fan fiction. I now have nearly every book she’s written and still go back to read her fan-fiction.
For the record Jean Johnson rocks.
Michael Weingard needs to read more.
Josepha Sherman, Joan Vinge, Janni Lee Simner, Neil Gaiman, Michael Chabon, Harlan Ellison, David Brin, Ellen Kushner,Sherri Tepper, Phyllis Eisenstein, Esther Freisner, Jane Yolen . . .
Seriously, this schmuck does not know what he’s talking about. Part of the problem is that he doesn’t know, or read, genre fic—he’s in the throes of a crush on lit fic.
If he reads Yiddish or Hebrew, there’s an even longer list, that includes not only folklore but Biblically inspired mythic fantasy—and graphic novels.
And for the really curious, I’m perfectly willing to make a case for most of the the Medieval Irish texts contained in Lebor Gabala, the Book of the Takings of Ireland as Jewish fan fic (Ireland was in part settled by descendants of Noah, and Jonah holidayed there).
Regarding Diana Gabdalon’s books and fanfiction of it, I only have three words: Internet Rule #34.
“If it exists, there is porn of it.”
“Michael Weingard needs to read more.”
Yep. Two words: Avram Davidson.
I understood his argument to be “There is no epic Jewish fantasy on par in influence and scope with Tolkien and Lewis,” not “There are no Jewish fantasy writers.”
Just because a writer is Jewish doesn’t mean that they write Jewish fantasy. I wouldn’t, for example, classify Gaiman as a writer of Jewish fantasy; he’s far too broadly mythic in focus.
He’s also my boyfriend, though neither he nor Amanda Palmer know it.
The fantasy novel/series that comes to mind with this description (and I agree it’s a good one) is P.C. Hodgell’s Godstalk, followed by Dark of the Moon and (I think) one more (To Ride a Rathorn, maybe?). I ran across Hodgell’s work in her short story “Stranger Blood” and hunted down the original in the pre-internet days of wearisome searches. (Thank you, Powell’s bookstore.) One of the things that attracted me about Hodgell’s world is that it’s people are basically losing over a series of millenia. Not noble, elf-like fading from the world Tolkien losing, but bitter, nasty, slow eradicating battle losing. And as a result they’re some mean, nasty, bitter, narrow-minded and intolerant people. But it WORKS as a fantasy. I have no idea if PC Hodgell is Jewish. (Any of the Smart Bitches know this fun fact?) But it works for me as an epic. Judging from its commercial success, I’m a weird person though. For anyone who likes dark fantasy, and the original kick-ass urban fantasy heroine in Jamethiel, I’d highly recommend it though.
Likewise, isn’t Tolkien far too broadly mythic to be considered a Christian author? Middle-Earth strikes me as being predominantly derived from a pre-Christian Norse tradition.
I think that most fantasy is a blending of cultures and ideas from all over—high fantasy is often pseudo-medieval or Arthurian, which does give it particularly Christian (and pagan) historical background.
Michael Weingrad, the author of the original article, also wrote a reply to critiques of it—which can be found here.
As for fan-fiction, I’m all for it. I grew up reading Harry Potter fan-fics, while the HP community waited for the release of the next book and the next. It is really good practice for writing about original characters (though some fan-fics do deviate so wildly from the original characters that they remain the same in name only).
A lot of professional authors begin with writing fan-fiction. Tessa Dare, for example, wrote Jane Austen fan-fics, and I adored her first trilogy of books. Dare’s novels are not even vaguely ripped-off of Austen—but they are very well-written and entertaining, and undoubtedly more-so because Dare had a firm grounding in the indomitable Austen’s works.
I didn’t mean to use “original” twice. Possibly I should clarify that I meant fan-fics are good practice for also writing about one’s own original characters… but that sometimes the characters in fan-fiction who ostensibly were created by the non-fan-fic (professional) author little resemble that author’s real characters.
Ha! Great comment. Gabaldon’s rant definitely comes off as unbalanced and maybe even slightly loony.
Bruno wrote an autism questionnaire? That would probably be hysterically, if uncomfortably, funny.
Attention, Diana Gabaldon: “Things You Control” and “Things that People Who Aren’t You Write”—in a boolean graph, these two concepts WOULD NOT intersect. At all.
Religion and fantasy. Hmm. I’ve always kind of enjoyed fantasy as an exploration of non-Christianity. Gods walking and talking, interacting with people, provably and without a doubt in existence. Interfering in mortal lives for shits and giggles and their own nefarious purposes. The stories could set aside the whole agnostic dilemma and get on with the plot. And when deus ex machina happens, the gods have motivation and foreshadowing and stuff.
I wonder if one of the differences is due to Judaism being fairly strictly defined, whereas Christianity just kind of appropriated pagan traditions to bring new people in, and then kept reinventing itself as people came along and protested the old guard.
I had a really interesting conversation one time (that I wish I could remember more clearly) with a Hindu co-worker who’d married a Catholic. She said that she had to attend all these conversion classes, which was all well and fine, but Hinduism is very inclusive. There is no line (apropos of adoption other theologies) that you can cross that can make you non-Hindu. You can add other theologies onto your Hinduism, but you can’t really divest yourself of your essential Hinduism.
My profound apologies to Hindus everywhere for horribly butchering that concept.
@John J Your journey to writing original work and mine are so similar, it’s spooky, except that I began writing much later. Like you, I don’t want to return to fanfiction, but I’m very grateful for the start and skills and confidence it gave me, and I would recommend it to anyone having trouble knowing how to begin learning the craft.
What is it about successful authors, to whom fanfiction can means zero impact on income or reputuation, pissing all over their most loyal fans? I am just insanely jealous of any author whose readers love their work so much that they can’t help but express that love in their own creativity. I mean, how effing awesome is it to have art created because of something you wrote? Even if it’s art at the kindergartener finger painting level? Dude, you inspired someone to make something!
On the Jewish Narnia book, I remember quite a number of hostile responses along the lines of this, and this. Even if the initial premise was true, I’m not sure the lack of a Jewish Narnia means anything, considering the strong role Jewish writers have played in speculative fiction for a very long time. Fantasy is not inherently more wonderful or worthy than s/f, or vice versa.
Of course there’s a Jewish Narnia. Huge, sprawling, epic series. Entitled ‘most of the iconic super-heroes featured in American comic books’. Its no accident that Superman is a messiah-figure; or that the cover of Captain America’s first appearance features him punching Hitler; several years before America entered World War 2. And the super-hero idea even works well with Weingrad’s analysis of Judaism’s ‘science fiction’ focus. Rather than spend their time in invented worlds; these heroic figures exist in (give or take a few jaunts to other planets), and for, our own.
@Suze, @kinsey
Simon Baron-Cohen, cousin of Sascha
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Baron-Cohen
Dangit, I had to put off finding the FJM post that rebuts Weingrad until this evening, and now I discover I’ve been beaten to it. 🙁 So much for my major contribution to the discussion.
But yeah, Weingrad is either wrong, or defining his argument so narrowly it becomes useless. Why isn’t there a Christian Mahabharata? Why isn’t there a Hindu Neon Genesis Evangelion? Different religions will produce different kinds of stories, so if he’s really looking in specific for a Jewish Narnia, then the answer to “why” is “because Judaism is not Christianity.” If he thinks there’s no important fantasy informed by a Jewish worldview, he isn’t paying attention.
(Okay, I can’t resist plugging: in July, Norilana Books will be publishing Clockwork Phoenix 3, an anthology which contains my Christianity/Judaism/Secret Ingredient Mashup Story “The Gospel of Nachash.” Those of you who speak Hebrew will even find hidden, uh,
Easter eggs
Passover matzoh? in the story.)
Re: fanfic. It happens. Get over it. It means someone fell in love with your book or characters and wants to play with them like action figures.
Re: Jewish Narnia. Holy crap, that is a fascinating concept. Someone up the thread (too lazy to scroll back up) mentioned the importance of mere survival in Jewish history and tradition. If you live through the day, that’s a happy ending. Not such a strong fantasy concept so if it informs your worldview, it must surely have an impact.
Tolkein and LOTR, though written by a Christian, represented a Christian worldview pre-salvation. So, in essence, the importance of fighting to survive evil without the benefit of a savior. Hobbits were in many ways Jewish. Underestimated, not necessarily respected by other races, and stronger than anyone gave them credit for. When push came to shove, it was hobbits who saved the world, not the bigger, stronger, badder, more violent races that surrounded them. Not unlike the diaspora. Europe derided Jews for milennia yet benefited enormously from the cultural and educational influence of Judaism.
The other factor to consider is that most Western literary tradition has its roots in European literature. Middle English, Middle German, Chaucer, Beowulf, The Faerie Queen, The (anonymous) Pearl poet. During the Middle Ages through the early Renaissance nearly all art forms, not just literature, were disguised as religious. The value of art was to expand Christianity. The Church said so. Any artist who wanted to succeed (or not be excommunicated or worse) stuck with religious and moral themes rooted in Christian philosophy.
A rich Jewish literary tradition would not have been permitted. This doesn’t mean there were not any Jewish writers, just that the smart ones kept to themselves and their communities. Any work they produced would have been suppressed. Which pretty much sucks.