COML0320 - Modern Hebrew Literature and Film in Translation: Fantasy, Dreams, & Madness

Fantasy, Dreams, and Madness. We will study Hebrew and Israeli fiction, poetry, and films that feature dreams, fantasy, and madness. In the shadows behind the active, Zionist meta-narrative lurk nightmares, surrealist wanderings, and stories brimming with dreams. The tension between the nation-building enterprise and the forces that would subvert it exists in the Hebrew literature and cinema of the 20th century and persists in contemporary times. The works of S.Y. Agnon, the uncontested master of Hebrew literature, are fraught with dreams and psychoanalytic insight. His literary heirs, Amos Oz and A.B. Yehoshua, pillars of the Israeli literary canon, often speak in the symbolic language of the subconscious. Classic Israeli films, as well as works by newer directors like Ari Folman, Nadav Lapid, and Natalie Portman, which confront similar issues. Writings by Freud, Kafka, and Plath are also included in the course. Taught in English. Texts in translation.