In some places where the Jewish population was dense and crowded, a distinctive Jewish subculture emerged. For example, ethnic Jews were very successful in literature and art in Vienna at the end of the 19th century. Fifty years later they excelled in New York and in Los Angeles in mid-20th century. These people were generally non-religious Jews, and the Jewish art and culture they created reflected the values of the society in which they lived.
While Jewish writers created a unique Jewish literature, they also contributed to the national literature of the countries they lived in. Although not strictly secular, writers such as Shalom Aleichem and Isak Bashevis Singer (1978 Nobel Prize winner) wrote in Yiddish and told the world about the life experiences of Jews in Eastern Europe and the United States. In America, many Jewish writers who have gained the title of the greatest American writers, such as Philip Roth and Saul Bellow, include their own secular Jewish views of life in their works. Allen Ginsberg's poetry often touches on Jewish themes (especially his autobiographical works such as "Howl" and "Kaddish"). Other Jews who contributed to world literature include German poet Heinrich Heine, Russian writer Isaac Babel, and Prague native Franz Kafka.
In "Modern Judaism: An Oxford Guide," Professor Yaakov Malkin says: "Secular Jewish culture patronizes literary works that have stood the test of time, that are shared by all, Jews and non-Jews alike, that are a source of aesthetic pleasure, that transcend the socio-cultural conditions in which they were created. Among these, Shalom Aleichem, Itzik Manger, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Philip Roth, Saul Bellow, S.Y. Agnon, Isaac Babel, Martin Buber, Iasiah Berlin, Haim Nahman Bialik, Yehuda Amichai, Amos Oz, A.B.Yehoshua and David Grossman, as well as Heinrich Heine, Gustav Mahler, Leonard Bernstein, Marc Chagall, Jacob Epstein, Ben Shahn, Amadeo Modigliani, Franz Kafka, who had a great impact on the Western world and Jewish culture. It also includes works by Max Reinhardt, Ernst Lubitsch and Woody Allen.
