Welcome to Century Village is a collection of short stories narrated by second and third generation Jewish Americans living in South Florida. All of the stories are told in first-person, in a distinctly Yiddish idiom. Most of the stories in the collection are about elderly Jews living in Building E of Century Village, a retirement community in Boca Raton and a world unto itself. These stories have recurring characters that are dealing with similar issues: loneliness, aging, wayward children and grandchildren, and the changing ethnic landscape of their close-knit community and of multicultural South Florida. The stories focus on the primarily Jewish milieu of Century Village, a closed world of clubhouse kibitzers, shuttle bus shoppers, and sun worshippers at the pool. It's a threatened world and a dying world, and these stories render the changing landscape of South Florida, with its shrinking older Jewish community. Since I'm in the process of transforming these Century Village stories into a novel, this thesis also includes an excerpt the opening chapter of the novel. There are four Century Village stories in this collection--with characters from one story appearing in the others--as well as the novel excerpt. The novel begins with the 2000 presidential election, and the opening is told from the point of view of Golda Rosenberg, the queen of the Century Village kibitzers and publisher of the newsletter Voice of the Village, as she goes to Temple Beth Shalom to vote. The next story, "Demitra Silverman," involves Mimi Silverman, who at the age of seventy-two inherits a "half black" great-grandchild. "The Shlemiel of Century Village" is the story of Saul Schwartz, who is trying to toughen up and stop letting the world take advantage of him, but who suddenly finds his n're do well son moving in with him and testing his resolve. Another Century Village story, "Your Own Mother," is told from the point of view of Adele Vogel, who longs for connection with her daughter, but finds that as her health deteriorates, so does the possibility for this connection. The final Century Village story, "Welcome to Century Village," involves a romance between Rose Cohen and Ray Lopez, the first gentile resident of Building E. In addition to the Century Village stories, this thesis includes two stories of third generation Jews in South Florida. "My New Motto" tells the story of a woman deciding between her Cuban handyman or giving up on men altogether, and like the Century Village stories, the voice is influenced by the patterns of Yiddish speech. "Fellow Travelers" is the story of flea market sunglass salesman Abe Levitz, whose son returns from a trip from Russia with a surprise that tests their relationship. Like the Century Village stories, these two stories of the next generation also deal with the changing cultural landscape of South Florida / A Thesis Submitted to the Department of English in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Masters of Arts. / Summer Semester, 2003. / March 25, 2003. / South Florida, Jewish Americans, Short Stories / Includes bibliographical references. / Mark Winegardner, Professor Directing Thesis; Elizabeth Stuckey-French, Committee Member; Virgil Suarez, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_180683 |
| Contributors | Melzer, Dan (authoraut), Winegardner, Mark (professor directing thesis), Stuckey-French, Elizabeth (committee member), Suarez, Virgil (committee member), Department of English (degree granting department), Florida State University (degree granting institution) |
| Publisher | Florida State University, Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource, computer, application/pdf |
| Rights | This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). The copyright in theses and dissertations completed at Florida State University is held by the students who author them. |
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