Courses > 2018 Fall

Electives

CIMS 159 - ISRAELI LITERARY AUTOBIOGRAPHIES

NELC 159 | COML 282 | ENGL 079 | JWST 154
401 | LEC | Nili Gold | TR 1:30-3pm | WILL 421

Modern Hebrew literature, an offspring of Zionism, has long rejected writing about one's personal life as embarrassing egocentrism and self-exposure. However, many well-known Israeli artists have reached the age where they want to tell their true stories, and the younger generation has grown up in an individualistic period where it is acceptable to talk about open wounds and trauma. Israeli scholar of autobiography Nitza Ben-Dov sees this trend as a symptom of the culture of exposure in which we live (e.g. reality TV, Facebook, etc.). In addition to the author's life. Therefore, the genres examined in this course are fluid: We will be studying memoirs; poetry and prose that conceal the author's life story; and even biographies (literary or not). Authors to be studied included: Yehuda Amichai, Dahlia Ravikovitch, Haim Be'er, Aharon Appelfeld, Amos Oz, Sami Michael, and S.Y.  Agnon. Filmmakers include: Dror Shaul, Eli Cohen and Ari Folman. Not everything included in the syllabus will be studied. All works in translation. There will be 5-6 film screenings. Films will be placed on reserve at the library for those unable to attend the screenings. The contents of the course changes from year to year so students may take it for credit more than once.