Jewishness and World History in Clive Sinclair’s Death & Texas

Abstract

At first glance, Death & Texas (2014), the title of the fourth short story collection by the British Jewish writer Clive Sinclair, appears somewhat misleading for several reasons. First, death may not seem a central theme in all the eight stories. Second, Texas is not the spatial setting in all stories, as some of them take place elsewhere in the USA or even in other countries. However, on closer inspection, both the theme of death and the American environment occur in most stories by means of their characters’ interests, as the protagonists are often Jewish writers or artists concerned with American and world history as well as the rendering of historical events in popular culture. This article thus aims to survey the theme of Jewishness and the reflection of world history in the collection.