East/West/Zion: Jewish Literary Modernism

This course explores how Jewish authors in the first half of the twentieth century negotiated questions of space and place, tradition and modernity, language, nationality, religious practice, and politics. There will be a special focus on the role of Eastern Europe in the literary imagination of German-Jewish writers, and the use of modernist form and style. Authors may include Franz Kafka, Joseph Roth, Alfred Döblin, Arnold Zweig, Veza Canetti, Rose Ausländer, S.Y. Agnon, Dovid Bergelson, Isaac Babel, and Bruno Schulz. Discussions will take place in English. Most readings will be in German, with a few additional works in Hebrew, Yiddish, Russian, and Polish.