What is Jewish Literature?
The 2015 Uhlman Family Seminar featuring distinguished scholar Jonathan Hess
April 18, 2015
Since the mid-nineteenth century, literature has played a key role in the way Jews have adapted to the modern world and confronted the challenges of secularization, the dislocations of migration, and the traumas of anti-Semitism. But what exactly is Jewish literature? How does it relate to traditional Jewish modes of engaging with sacred texts? Why has it been so important to Jews in the modern era and of such interest to non-Jewish readers? Jonathan Hess, Moses M. and Hannah L. Malkin Distinguished Professor of Jewish History and Culture, will be helping participants engage with these broad questions through analyzing a selection of representative pieces of modern Jewish fiction, and integrating lectures with an intensive, discussion-based format. All the readings for the seminar are in the new volume, Nineteenth-Century Jewish Literature: A Reader, a free copy of which will be distributed to participants in advance of the seminar. The seminar will end with a panel session featuring Ruth Von Bernuth and Shai Ginsburg.
Topics
“Tradition!”: Tevye’s Precursors and the Emergence of Modern Jewish Literature
Literature and Assimilation
Melodrama and the Pleasures of Reading
Why are there no Great Jewish Romance Novels?
Panel Discussion: The Evolution of Jewish Intellectual Life
Jonathan Hess
Ruth Von Bernuth, Associate Professor of German and Director, UNC Center for Jewish Studies
Shai Ginsburg, Assistant Professor for Hebrew and Jewish Studies, Duke University
Time & Cost
9:15 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday, April 18, 2015. The tuition is $125 ($110 by January 22). Tuition for teachers is $62.50 ($55 by January 22). Teachers can also receive a $75 stipend after attending (click here for more information) and 10 contact hours for 1 unit of renewal credit. The optional lunch is $15.00.
For information about lodging click here.
Co-Sponsored by the General Alumni Association.
For information about GAA discounts and other scholarships available to Humanities Program participants, click here.