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New Babylonians: A History of Jews in Modern Iraq by Orit Bashkin (review)

reimagining history from a marginal, subaltern view and posting options for diaspora identities. Rushdie’s project is to “offer alternate histories that break down ethnic divides and resist fundamentalism,” (263) in order to challenge any presumed “master narrative.” This multifaceted collection, composed of twelve stimulating case studies focused around the central theme of Sepharad as a modern literary device, is brought together and highlighted in Halevi-Wise’s postscript and poignant analysis of Rebecca Goldstein’s Betraying Spinoza. In my judgment, each essay offers invaluable and often refreshing insight into the booming cross-disciplinary fields of inquiry in literature, history, gender, and minority studies, where issues of globalization and border-crossings, national and individual identity and belonging compel us to reassess the discourse with which we engage one another. By moving Sepharad from the stasis of history books to a dynamic place of engagement with literary texts and authorial contexts, Halevi-Wise compels us to imagine Spanish Jewish history not simply as “a relic” but rather as a prism of central importance through which we must continually negotiate ways in which to understand the Other and ourselves in the always shifting problematic of identity politics. Literature invites conversation, and with Sephardism: Spanish Jewish History and the Modern Literary Imagination we are invited to join one that is as relevant as ever. In this exchange, awareness of the Sephardic experience as a literary and discursive device plays a major role in expressing preoccupations about outsiders and minorities.