Call It Sleep

E381998

Call It Sleep is a landmark 1934 novel by Henry Roth that portrays the inner life and struggles of a young Jewish immigrant boy growing up in New York City's Lower East Side.

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All labels observed (1)

Label Occurrences
Call It Sleep canonical 2

Statements (47)

Predicate Object
instanceOf modernist novel
novel
adaptation radio dramatization
author Henry Roth
countryOfOrigin United States of America
surface form: United States
criticalStanding considered a classic of Jewish American literature
considered one of the great American immigrant novels
genre Jewish American literature
coming-of-age novel
immigrant novel
modernist literature
hasISBN 978-0-374-52902-1
influenced later Jewish American writers
later immigrant narratives in American literature
languageDevice phonetic rendering of Yiddish and accented English
symbolic use of biblical and religious imagery
literaryMovement modernism
mainCharacter David Schearl
narrativePerspective third-person limited
narrativeStyle stream of consciousness
notableFeature extensive use of interior monologue
innovative representation of multilingual speech
originalLanguage English
pageCount approximately 400 pages
placeInAuthorCareer Henry Roth's first novel
only major work by Henry Roth for several decades
protagonistAge young boy
protagonistBackground Eastern European Jewish immigrant family
protagonistEthnicity Jewish
publicationDate 1934
publisher Robert O. Ballou NERFINISHED
reception initially modest sales
rediscovered and acclaimed in the 1960s
reissue 1960s paperback edition
reissuePublisher Avon Books
settingLocation Brownsville, Brooklyn
surface form: Brownsville, Brooklyn, New York City

Lower East Side
surface form: Lower East Side, Manhattan, New York City
subjectMatter life in New York City tenements
psychological interiority of a child
theme childhood and psychological development
family conflict
identity and assimilation
immigrant experience in America
language and perception
religion and spirituality
urban poverty
timePeriod early 20th century

Referenced by (2)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Henry Roth notableWork Call It Sleep