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Israeli literature has always been intensely interested in issues publicly debated in Israeli society: such as arguments over the meaning of Zionism, the role of the Holocaust in Israeli politics and culture, the
relation
between Jewish and Israeli identity, the significance of ethnic differences in Israeli society, and Israeli-Arab relations. Central to all of these issues is the creation of the "New Jew" proposed by Zionism: strong,
secular,
and national, as opposed to the presumed "weak" superstitious or cosmopolitan character of the Diaspora Jew.
In this course, we will focus on the ways in which Israeli writers engage and often question the "New
Jew".
Israeli literature thus provides powerful commentary on current controversies around "post-Zionism," the "new historians," and the Oslo Accords. Israeli novelists are usually widely read social critics, and Israeli
novels
are public events, sparking debates in the media that go well beyond the evaluation of their literary merits. With all its diversity, Israeli literature focuses primarily on what is suppressed or excluded by the "New
Jew":
this focus illuminates the ways in which the borders of identity are connected to the construction of national borders.
We will familiarize ourselves with some of the issues in contemporary Israeli politics and
culture
through excerpts from some Israeli cultural critics like Meron Benveniste, Yoram Hazony, Yeshayahu Leibowitz, Amos Oz and Anton Shammas. Mostly, though, we will focus on the way in which Israeli novelists, both those of
the "center" and less well-known, more "marginal" writers, have addressed these issues. These writers, in addition to providing a complex diversity of views on contemporary Israel, also provide new ways of thinking
about
tradition and modernity, identity and difference, in an increasingly hybrid postmodern world.
COURSE FORMAT: Seminar
Level: UGRD Credit: 1 Gen Ed Area Dept: NONE Grading Mode: Graded
Prerequisites: NONE Links to Web Resources For This Course.
Last Updated on MAR-19-2004
Copyright Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, 06459