Rhetoric and Nation: The Formation of Hebrew National Culture, 1880-1990

by Shai Ginsburg

Overview

Critics commonly hold that the modern Hebrew canon reveals a shared rhetoric that is crucial for the emergence and formation of modern Jewish nationalism. Yet, does the Hebrew canon indeed demonstrate a shared logic? In Rhetoric and Nation, Ginsburg challenges the common conflation of modern Hebrew rhetoric and modern Jewish nationalism. Considering a wide range of literary, critical, and political works, Ginsburg explores the way each text manifests its own singular logic that cannot be subsumed under any single ideology. Through close readings of key canonical texts, Rhetoric and Nation establishes that the Hebrew discourse of the nation should be conceived of not as a coherent and cohesive entity but rather as an assemblage of singular, disparate moments.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780815633334
Publisher:	Syracuse University Press
Publication date:	04/15/2014
Series:	Judaic Traditions in Literature, Music, and Art
Pages:	486
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Shai P. Ginsburg is assistant professor of Asian and Middle Eastern studies at Duke University.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction: Nation and Discourse 1

1 Politics and Letters: Ahad Ha-Am's Rhetoric of the Nation 35

2 Language and Pedagogy: Moshe Smilansky's "Hawaja Nazar" 75

3 Literary Criticism as Nationalist Cartography: Joseph Hayyim Brenner and "The Land of Israel Genre and Its Accoutrements? 108

4 The Rhetoric of Historical Anxiety David Ben-Gurion Meir Yaari 153

5 History and Myth: Moshe Shamir's He Walked through the Fields 195

6 History and Mourning: The Reception of Moshe Shamir's He Walked through the Fields 229

7 National Aesthetics in Crisis: Amos Oz's Political Writings 266

8 The Tussle with the Zionist Dream: Yaakov Shabtai's Past Continuous 298

9 A Sentimental Journey: Dan Miron's Moral Landscape 336

Conclusion: Rethinking the Hebrew Discourse of the Nation 372

References 385

Index 445

Editorial Reviews

[Ginsburg] challenges accepted scholarly criticism that written and spoken Hebrew share a collective rhetoric and contends that each work in Hebrew literature is unique and stands alone without being linked to other literature by a common idea.

AJL Reviews

Shai Ginsburg points to the complexity of the rhetoric of the nation, especially the Jewish nation, and of Zionist rhetorical, textual construction in particular. A rich study that closely examines various aspects of Zionist national rhetoric, it is a historical work of extensive scope that moves between essays and articles by 'A?ad Ha-'am, Herzl, Pinsker, and Berdyczewsky and reaches to contemporary Israeli literature and literary criticism. The national rhetoric that emerges from this timely book is, therefore, not only discourse reflecting and constructing the national situation in time, but a multigeneric rhetoric, expressing itself in a variety of ways.

AJS Review - Shimrit Peled

Shai Ginsburg...challenges accepted scholarly criticism that written and spoken Hebrew share a collective rhetoric and contends that each work in Hebrew literature is unique and stands alone without being linked to other literature by a common idea. Ginsburg discusses the work of Amos Oz,
David Ben Gurion, Ehad Ha-Am, and Moshe Smilansky among others. Each page includes footnotes and a reference and general index are included. Recommended

AJL Reviews - Ilka Gordon