ReExmn Isr-Pal Crisis:Lit/Film

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

This course will examine how Israeli and Palestinian literatures depict the “other” through text and image, from the early years of Zionism to the twenty-first century. Using the methodologies of comparative studies, we will attempt to understand how each nation’s views evolved and changed over time, with a focus on works that shifted these perceptions in revolutionary ways. Various depictions of the “other” will be examined, such as the criminal, noble hero, sexual predator, lover, suicide bomber, and ally. We will also discuss how both art forms grappled with the many issues that together contribute to the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis, including identity, language, class, and the deceptively simple task of defining homeland. Weekly critical readings will include the theoretical ideas of Orientalism and post-colonialism, enabling students to understand both literatures within the wider context of world literature. Among the authors covered are: Yosef Chaim Brenner, S. Yizhar, Sami Michael, A.B. Yehoshua, Eli Amir, Amos Oz, David Grossman, Hanna Ibrahim, Emile Habibi, Atallah Mansour, Ghassan Kanafani, Mahmoud Darwish, Samir El-Youssef and Sayed Kashua. All readings, literary and critical, will be read in English translation, and five films will be screened as part of the course. The course is also listed as JCIV 196.