Sharon Lockett

The Autobiographies of Anzia Yezierska:

Letting Go of Memories to Pursue Dreams

For my first research posting, I posed the question: "How did Anzia Yezierska's life parallel those of her autobiographical protagonists?  Having discovered, quite surprisingly, that Yezierska's autobiographical stories contain more fiction than readers have been led to believe, I wanted to uncover the similarities and differences between the author's life and her stories.  My search led me to several points of convergence as well as departure.  And as I read comments on the life of this compelling writer, I began to question," Why did Yezierska alter or omit certain parts of her life as she fashioned her stories?"  I decided to pose this question in my second research posting.

I began my search looking for concrete answers.  I felt certain that Yezierska had solid reasons for keeping portions of her life a secret.  Was it for political or religious reasons?  Did she enjoy fooling her readers?  Did she want to seem pitiful in order to garner sympathy from others?  I planned to "get to the bottom" of the issue by seeking any information the library could offer.  Unfortunately, however, my quest did not lead to the kinds of answers I sought.  I could not find distinct reasons for Yezierska's reshaping of truth.  What I uncovered, though, offered a much deeper explanation of the historical, religious, and social contexts surrounding her life, and I gained insight into possible factors underlying her limited self-disclosure.  With regard to domestic, relational, and economic issues in particular, I now understand why Yezierska may have refashioned the stories of her life.     

During my research, I found two particularly informative articles.  In the first, "Self, Other, and Community: Jewish Women's Autobiography" by Tzvi Howard Adelman, I gained a better understanding of the context surrounding Yezierska's life as well as the lives of most Jewish women of her time.  Along with religious suppression, Yezierska and her counterparts faced unforgiving demands of home, family and community.  They were expected to function as keepers of Jewish law and subjects to Jewish male authority.  For Jewish women, the idea of "selfhood" or individuality was an unrecognizable term, that is, until these women arrived in the New World and began to realize the possibilities for alternate modes of life.  For the first time, they became daring enough to seek rediscovery and recreation of self, especially in domestic realms.  And in these newfound identities, they found liberty to express themselves in autobiographical narratives and stories.  These stories connected the women to each other as they fought to break free from gender requirements. 

According to Adelman, since these women longed to separate themselves from their religion-imposed sexual identities, they tended, in their writing, to avoid personal information about husbands or children.  Yezierska's stories never reveal the fact that she was married twice, nor do her stories mention her daughter, whom Yezierska abandoned in order to pursue a writing career.   Most likely, Yezierska omitted these details because she wanted to forget confinements of family and gender and move toward recreation of self.  Including factual information would, in a sense, hamper the function and purpose of the autobiography and hide the woman she longed to become.  Adelman's closing comment may answer, at least in part, my question regarding motive.  He maintains that "autobiographies are both an aid to memory and a tool for forgetting" (125).  I believe Yezierska's stories may fall within this adage.  She reshaped or omitted moments of her past because she had to leave these memories behind to embrace her emerging identity.

In reading the second article, "Starving for Hunger:  The Fiction of Anzia Yezierska" by Nieves Pascual, I began to understand some of the underlying motives that may have driven Yezierska to present inaccurate self-portraits of starvation and poverty.  Pascual alludes to the fact that, in her stories, Yezierska depicts herself as a hopeless and impoverished immigrant while in reality she achieved measures of economic success.  He further suggests that this self-imposed starvation may have been Yezierska's way of punishing herself or dealing with the guilt of abandoning religious and gender roles, of participation in an illicit affair, and of upsetting traditional hierarchies by acting against the wishes and values of her parents.  Pascual also suggests that, as a "hungry" writer, Yezierska's career was fueled by her unmet need for expression through words.  She embraced this hunger by keeping it alive in her heroines.  Sating them, as well as herself, would mean losing her fervor and passion for the only thing she truly valued.  Therefore, according to Pascual, in order to flourish as a writer and keep her texts viable, she needed to keep the hunger alive by presenting the pitiful self images that pervade her works.  Although I have noticed this hunger theme in her works, I admit my perception never reached this level; however, I believe Pascual has a valid argument.  Through starvation mode, Yezierska maintained a continual craving for the words of self-expression, and she made certain the longing was never satisfied.     

Since the modern literary world cannot enjoy the real life presence of Yezierska or other writers of the past, we can only offer suppositions, just as Adelman and Pascual do, as to personal motives underlying their texts.  And even if I could bring Yezierska back to life, she may not be able to articulate definite reasons for her reshaping of truth.  I am convinced, however, that my research had led to some viable possibilities and at least formative answers to my question.  I believe Yezierska existed as a Jewish woman who longed to escape the prison of her religious past.  In a New World, she sought happiness through reinvention, discovery, and even risk-taking.  And while her autobiographical writing may offer departures from the truth, it served for her as an outlet for expression of her journey toward self-fulfillment.  The motives underlying Yezierska's style enabled her to overcome harsh and unforgiving memories of her past, to cope with inward struggles of identity, and to keep alive her dreams of becoming a successful writer.

Once again, this research assignment has fueled my interest in Yezierska.  In seeking potential answers to my question, and in following possible leads, I have encountered additional areas for investigation.  In particular, I plan to read more of Yezierska's stories to explore common themes and to search for personal glimpses of the writer.  Also, I want to continue studying the religious and social contexts surrounding the lives of Jewish immigrant women.  As narratives of undaunted quests for self-discovery in an unforgiving New World, their stories compel me to deeper exploration.

Works Cited

Adelman, Tzvi Howard.  "Self, Other, and Community: Jewish Women's Autobiography."  Nashim: A Journal of Jewish Women's Studies and Gender Issues. 7 (Spring 2004):  116-127.  Project MUSE.  University of Houston Lib.  21 June 2006  <http://muse.jhu.edu> 

Pascual, Nieves.  "Starving for Hunger: The Fiction of Anzia Yezierska."  Mosaic. 36.1 (March 2003):  79-88.  Literature Resource Center.  Gale Group.  University of Houston Lib.  23 June 2006 <http://infotrac.galegroup.com>