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Abstract
Larry David's persona in Curb Your Enthusiasm serves as a contemporary manifestation of the schlemiel from Yiddish culture. Although David keeps the essential aspects of the schlemiel intact, he adapts them to twenty-first-century America. David's schlemiel persona reflects the uneasiness many Jewish people feel about their place in multicultural America.
Notes
1. For a comprehensive history of Jewish characters on American television, see Zurawik; Brook.
2. A small number of critics have observed, in passing, Larry's resemblance to the schlemiel, but an extended exploration has yet to be offered. Byers and Krieger observe that Larry is “both a schlemiel and a schlimazl. That is, he both attracts and causes trouble” (280). Weinstein asserts that “[w]hen Larry, the schlemiel, spills his soup, it always lands on Richard [Lewis], the schlemazel [sic]” (42). And Pinsker writes that Curb “makes it clear, week after week, that an annoyingly funny millionaire curmudgeon can also be a schlemiel” (“Future”).
3. Throughout this article, “Larry David” or simply “David” refers to the writer and creator of Curb Your Enthusiasm, whereas “Larry” refers to the fictional persona that David portrays on the show.
4. The gender specific language here is deliberate, for all critical discussions of the schlemiel (to my knowledge) focus on a male character, and the schlemiel is typically discussed as a figure that subverts traditional versions of masculinity.
5. See Pinsker, Schlemiel ch. 1 for a detailed exploration of the schlemiel's origins.
6. The schlimazl, in contrast, suffers misfortunes through no fault of his own.
7. Some contemporary Jewish American artists have responded to this phenomenon by either looking at Jewish life outside of the United States or by imagining Jewish suffering in an alternate history. In The Ministry of Special Cases (2007), Nathan Englander considers the precarious position of Jews in 1976 Argentina, and in Michael Chabon's The Yiddish Policemen's Union (2007) and Philip Roth's The Plot Against America (2004), twentieth-century Jewish history is rewritten.
8. In the first few episodes of season 7 (the most recent to date), Larry's romantic relationship with Loretta Black dissolves. However, Larry maintains his friendship with Leon throughout the entire season.