10335 The Canaanite Group: Literature and Ideology 1
Credits: 6 advanced credits in Hebrew Literature or in Modern History of the Jewish People
Prerequisites: 36 credits, including at least one course in Literature. Students must also fulfill all English requirements and take bibliographic instruction in the Library.
Recommended: Amos Oz and A. B. Yehoshua: Early Writings
Authors: Rakefet Sela-Sheffy, Rachel Weissbrod, Michal Levy
The course surveys the development and activity of the Canaanite group, examines the group’s ideology and literature, and analyzes the relations between its members. The materials include Jewish Literature in the Hebrew Language, Sword Songs, and Black Canopy, by Yonatan Ratosh; Four Short Stories, by S. Izhar; a collection of articles about the Canaanite group and its literature; as well as writings by the group published in the periodical Alef (1948-1953).
Objectives: To describe the Canaanite ideology, its roots, and its relationship to the writings of the group; To fashion tools for independently analyzing Canaanite poetry and prose fiction and examining their relationship with Canaanite ideology and between literature and ideology in general; To analyze the character of the Canaanite group and its relationship with the reality in which it functioned, and to point to the social, cultural and literary aspects of this reality.
Topics: Background and sources of the Canaanite ideology, its modes of expression and influence on Israeli reality; Canaanite ideology; Demands by Canaanite ideology from Hebrew literature; The poetry of Ratosh and its relationship to Canaanite ideology; Self-proclaimed ideological poetry (Yonatan Ratosh and Aharon Amir); Canaanite fiction and its modes of compliance with the ideological and literary demands of Canaanite ideology.
1Students may write a seminar paper in this course, although it is not required.