Evelyn Torton Beck

Evelyn Torton Beck (born January 18, 1933) is a retired American academic. Until her retirement in 2002 she specialized in women's studies, Jewish women's studies and lesbian studies at the University of Maryland, College Park.

Beck has published a number of essays and books on Judaism. She came to wider prominence in 1982 with her book, Nice Jewish Girls: A Lesbian Anthology, a compilation of poems, essays, reminiscences and short stories, By the time Evelyn reached New York with her parents in June 1940, she was seven. Her father told her that theirs had been the last emigrant ship permitted to leave Italy for the United States. Her doctoral dissertation concerned Franz Kafka and the influence of Yiddish theatre on his work.

Academic career Starting in 1972 Beck spent twelve years teaching Comparative Literature, German, and Women’s Studies at the University of Wisconsin, becoming an associate professor in 1977 and promoted to a full professorship in 1982.

In the context of what was coming to be defined as second-wave feminism she was one of the first to call for "lesbian inclusion in Jewish circles and for Jewish inclusion in feminist circles". In 1982 she published "Nice Jewish Girls: A Lesbian Anthology", a compilation of poems, essays, reminiscences and short stories.

In 1984, she returned to the East Coast, accepting an invitation to create and then head up the Institute for Gender studies at the University of Maryland, College Park. She also became an associate member of the Faculty for Jewish Studies and Comparative Literature. Retirement of a kind came in 2002, since when she has been Professor Emerita at the University of Maryland and an Alum Research Fellow with the Creative Longevity and Wisdom Initiative at Fielding Graduate University.

Evelyn Torton Beck collected material for a book on the theme "Wounds of Gender: Frida Kahlo and Franz Kafka" over many years. She received a second doctorate in 2004, this time in Clinical Psychology from Fielding Graduate University in California.

A recurring theme of her academic career has been the creation of numerous interdisciplinary courses on topics such as Women in the Arts, Mothers and Daughters, Jewish Women in International Perspective, Women and the Holocaust, Death and Dying in Modern Literature, Lesbian Studies, Gender, Power and the Spectrum of Difference, Healing Women, and Feminist Perspectives on Psychology.

Scholarly work Beck is the author of numerous books and essays focusing on Franz Kafka and Yiddish theatre (1972), Frida Kahlo and Isaac Bashevis Singer (with whom she worked closely and whose stories she translated from Yiddish). She is the editor of Nice Jewish Girls: A Lesbian Anthology (1982/1989).

She wrote on multiculturalism and the impact of sexism, anti-Semitism, and homophobia on women’s identity development. She lectured on these themes in Europe, Japan and across the United States. Interviews with her appear in English, German and Japanese journals. She was invited to discuss Freud’s legacy on The Diane Rehm Show and was heard on NPR with a critique of the epithet "Jewish American Princess" on which she wrote.

As of 2015, she was editing a collection of her essays and revising her book-length manuscript Physical Illness, Psychological Woundedness and the Healing Power of Art in the Life and Work of Franz Kafka and Frida Kahlo.

Another avenue of current research focuses on the impact of sacred circle dance on the lives of older women. After intensive training with teachers from Europe, South America, and the United States, she began teaching this dance practice regularly in the Washington, D.C., area, while running inter-arts workshops combining poetry with sacred circle dance at professional meetings.

Personal life Her first marriage, in 1954, was to mathematician Anatole Beck; the couple raised two children, Nina and Micah. The marriage ended in divorce in 1974. At age 40, she came out as a lesbian. She subsequently married Lee Knefelkamp, who is an academic in psychology and education (and a woman). Evelyn Torton Beck has been a grandmother since 2001.

Selected awards and honours 1994: Outstanding Woman of the Year Award der University of Maryland 1995: Distinguished Scholar/Teacher Award der University of Maryland 2004: Frieda Fromm-Reichmann Dissertation Award

Selected publications

Books Kafka and the Yiddish Theater. Its Impact on his Work, University of Wisconsin Press, 1971 (Dissertation) Nice Jewish Girls. A Lesbian Anthology (as compiler-editor), Persephone Press, 1982. Reprinted: Beacon Press, Boston 1984 und 1989 Physical illness, psychological woundedness and the healing power of art in the life and work of Franz Kafka and Frida Kahlo, University of Wisconsin–Madison, 2004

Contributions to books "Naming is not a simple act: Jewish lesbian-feminist community in the 1980s", in: Christie Balka and Andy Rose (editors): Twice Blessed: On Being Lesbian or Gay and Jewish, Beacon Press, Boston 1991 "On being a pre-feminist feminist OR How I came to Women’s Studies and what I did there", in: A. Ginsberg (editor-compiler): The Evolution of American Women’s Studies. Reflections on Triumphs, Controversies, and Change, Palgrave Macmillan, New York 2008, pp. 110–130 Frida Kahlo. in: B. Zimmerman (editor-compiler): Encyclopedia of Homosexuality, second ed., vol. I: Lesbian Histories and Cultures, Garland Publishing, New York 1999 "Why Kafka? A Jewish Lesbian Feminist Asks?" in: R.Siegel & E.Cole (editor-compiler): Patterns in Jewish Women’s Lives. A Feminist Sampler, Haworth Press, New York 1997, pp. 187–200 "Judaism, Feminism and Psychology. Making the Links Visible", in: K.Weiner, A. Moon (Hrsg.): Jewish Women Speak Out. Expanding the Boundaries of Psychology, Canopy Press, Seattle 1995 "The Place of Jewish Experience in a Multicultural University Curriculum", in: Marla Brettschneider (Hrsg.): The Narrow Bridge. Jewish Perspectives on Multiculturalism, Rutgers University Press 1996, pp. 163–177

Essays "Kahlo’s World Split Open", in: Feminist Studies, Nr. 32, 1/2006, pp. 54–83 "The Many Faces of Eve: Women, Yiddish, and Isaac Bashevis Singer", in: Studies in American Jewish Literature No. 1/1981, pp. 112–123 "LB. Singer’s Misogyny", in: Lilith. The Jewish Women's Magazine, Frühling 1980