Representative works of the Jewish literary tradition from Antiquity to the present, with a focus on Jewish fiction from the 19th and 20th centuries.
Additional Requirements for Graduate Students: Graduate students will be expected to engage critically with
the material on a level that conforms with the standards of
scholarship set forth by the Graduate School. For every
primary text assigned, graduate students will be required to
examine a minimum of two critical articles and demonstrate
that they can integrate their knowledge of secondary sources
with their own analysis of the primary text. Graduate student
papers will be twice the length of undergraduate student
papers and involve a substantial research component. They will
be asked to incorporate primary evidence (historical,
archeological, philological) into an integrated analysis of
the text or texts they choose to examine.
Athena Title
Jewish Literature
Equivalent Courses
Not open to students with credit in CMLT 4040E or CMLT 6040E
Undergraduate Prerequisite
Experience engaging critically with literary or other texts and experience developing and expressing ideas in written and oral form.
Graduate Prerequisite
Experience engaging critically with literary or other texts and experience developing and expressing ideas in written and oral form.
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Student Learning Outcomes
Students will be able to investigate, analyze, synthesize, and demonstrate knowledgeably and coherently, in written and oral form, various aspects of Jewish literature and other forms of cultural production.
Students will be able to explain various aspect of Jewish life, religion, and history as interpreted in ficiton, cinema, drama, and other forms for cultural production.
Students will be able to interpret the formal, aesthetic, and creative elements of literary, cinematic, and cultural texts and the social and historical contexts in which they circulate, specifically works dealing with Jewish culture, religion, and history.
Students will be able to develop, support, and express ideas in written and oral form using language with clarity and precision in coherent, cohesive essays, and/or oral presentations.
Students will be able to synthesize competing positions into an original argument supported by textual evidence.
Topical Outline
The course is organized around readings from works of fiction, poetry, and drama dealing with Jewish themes. Specific works under analysis will vary with the individual instructor. Topics covered include: Literature and Jewish theology; Literature and the exilic experience; The interaction between Jewish literature and the non-Jewish cultures; The Jewish experience and the challenges of modernity; Immigration and assimilation; Modern Jewish nationalism; and The Holocaust
The Book of Job
Selected poems by Yehuda Halevi, Shlomo Ibn Gabirol, Moshe Ibn Ezra, etc.
Sholem Aleichem, Tevye the Dairyman and Motl the Cantor's Son
Isaac Bashevis Singer, Enemies: A Love Story
S.Y. Agnon, A Simple Story
Philip Roth, Portnoy's Complaint
Orly Castel-Bloom, Dolly City
Institutional Competencies
Critical Thinking
The ability to pursue and comprehensively evaluate information before accepting or establishing a conclusion, decision, or action.
