Drawing on materials from her recently published The Retrospective Imagination of A. B. Yehoshua (2020), Professor Halevi-Wise will discuss Yehoshua’s ambivalent relationship toward the world at large in contrast with his non-conciliatory attitude toward the Jewish diaspora. Yehoshua’s negative comments about diasporic Jewry are well known; yet in his novels, he typically sends his characters on worldwide adventures, where they meet individuals from different races, religions and national identities. These voyages present a significant danger for perdition or loss of identity, but they also offer a constructive opportunity to forge mutually enlightening relationships that ultimately deepen the appreciation of Yehoshua’s characters for the ongoing labor that is necessary to forge a modern Jewish identity in Israel.

‍

Yael Halevi-Wise, McGill University in Montreal, Chair of the Department of Jewish Studies and Associate Professor of English Literature

Drawing on materials from her recently published The Retrospective Imagination of A. B. Yehoshua (2020), Professor Halevi-Wise will discuss Yehoshua’s ambivalent relationship toward the world at large in contrast with his non-conciliatory attitude toward the Jewish diaspora. Yehoshua’s negative comments about diasporic Jewry are well known; yet in his novels, he typically sends his characters on worldwide adventures, where they meet individuals from different races, religions and national identities. These voyages present a significant danger for perdition or loss of identity, but they also offer a constructive opportunity to forge mutually enlightening relationships that ultimately deepen the appreciation of Yehoshua’s characters for the ongoing labor that is necessary to forge a modern Jewish identity in Israel.

‍

Yael Halevi-Wise, McGill University in Montreal, Chair of the Department of Jewish Studies and Associate Professor of English Literature