3.0

credits

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Exile; Diaspora; Wandering; Refugee; Immigrant—these are all keywords that have been closely associated with Jews and the Jewish experience. What binds them all is movement, whether individual or communal, voluntary or involuntary. This course will examine the connection between movement and Jewish culture and history through the various forms of Jewish travel writing. In looking at depictions of travel both fictional and historical from the Middle Ages to the 20th century we will revisit and interrogate many of these keywords to understand the ways they have been deployed to understand Jewish identity in literature and beyond. A central point of consideration will be the role of travel in shaping conceptions of Jewish identity as well as Jewish literature in the modern period. We will examine novels, short stories, reportage, and travelogues describing real and imagined journeys from and to Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and America. All readings will be in English translation, primarily from sources in Yiddish, Hebrew, and German.