Special Topics in Comparative Literature (390-0-20)
Topic
Images of the Shtetl
Instructors
Marcus G Moseley
847/467-4712
Locy Hall, 306
Office Hours: By appointment
Meeting Info
Locy Hall 318: Tues, Thurs 3:30PM - 4:50PM
Overview of class
In collective memory the shtetl (small Jewish town) has become enshrined as the symbolic space par excellence of close-
knit, Jewish community in Eastern Europe; it is against the backdrop of this idealized shtetl that the international
blockbuster Fiddler on the Roof is enacted. The shtetl is the central locus and focus of Modern Yiddish Literature; Fiddler
on the Roof itself was based on a Sholem Aleichem story. In this seminar we shall explore the spectrum of
representations of the shtetl in Yiddish literature from the nineteenth century to the post-Holocaust period. We shall
also focus on artistic and photographic depictions of the shtetl: Chagall and Roman Vishniac in particular. The course
will include a screening of Fiddler on the Roof followed by a discussion of this film based upona comparison with the text
upon which it is based, Tevye the Milkman.
Learning Objectives
In focusing upon the shtetl students will become acquainted with the lifestyle, languages folklore and elite culture of the Jews in Eastern Europe. This course also serves as an introduction to Yiddish literature. Attention will also be paid to honing students' skills in reading and commenting critically upon literary texts. No previous knowledge of Jews and Judaism is required, nor of Hebrew or Yiddish language. By the end of the course, students will have become acquainted with a lexicon of key Hebrew/Yiddish terms of Jewish cultural practice.
Teaching Method
Emphasis on this class is placed upon student participation and debate. Each text is accompanied by a motion and counter-motion debate, followed by a discussion and a vote. The aim of this class, in an increasingly visual/screen oriented sphere of communications, to enhance dialogic skills, face to face encounters, reading body language, finding the right words in the heat of debate.
Class Materials (Required)
The Shtetl: A Creative Anthology of Jewish Life in Eastern Europe, ed. and tr. Joachim Neugroschel (Woodstock NY, 1989, ISBN: 0879513802
A Shtetl and Other Yiddish Novellas, ed. by Ruth Wisse (New York, 1986), ISBN 10: 0814318495
The I. L. Peretz Reader, ed. and with an introduction by Ruth Wisse (New York, 1990), pp. 17-77, ISBN 10: 0295970898
Sholem Aleichem, Tevye the Dairyman and the Railroad Stories, tr. and with an introduction by Hillel Halkin (New York, 1987), ISBN 10: 0805210695
Isaac Bashevis Singer, In My Father's Court (New York, 1967 and many later editions), ISBN-10: : 163292274
Abraham Joshua Heschel, The Earth is the Lord's (New York 1962 and later editions), ISBN 1879045427
Mark Zborowski and Elizabeth Herzog, Life is with People: the Culture of Shtetl Life (New York 1995), ISBN 10: 0805210547
Steven J. Zipperstein, Imagining Russian Jewy: Memory, History, Identity (University of Washington Press, 1990)