[NGFP-BookClub] farewell

[ruth wisse]

I'm afraid the time has come for me to wind up this mini course, with 
thanks, sincere thanks, to all who participated. Some of you who didn't 
write in, or who didn't write often, may feel that you did not really 
"participate." That's not the way I feel about it. Sometimes, in large 
lecture classes, I am aware of certain students who are actively listening, 
and responding mentally to everything that is being said, even though they 
almost never speak up in class. This format doesn't allow us to see one 
another face to face. Yet I'm certain that there are silent participants 
who have been actively participating. I hope you all share my excitement at 
having taken part in such a lively international discussion.

In presenting these books, I have tried to open the discussion rather than 
to sum it up with a definitive interpretation. The discussions went off in 
many directions, as is natural among adults with varying tastes and 
approaches to literature. There is no perfect way to read a book, but I do 
think it is important to read a book on its terms rather than reading 
oneself into a book. Someone else's experience is being rendered, 
not  ours, and fiction gives us a chance to experience more than we 
otherwise could. Some writers are so very different from us in circumstance 
and temperament and outlook that they take getting used to. On the other 
hand, I note that some readers were deeply moved by Sabato, although he 
certainly emerges from a different world than most of ours.

Many of you asked about several of these works, are they really Jewish 
literature? Does this really constitute a "Jewish canon?" Tevye seems 
obviously familiar,  but if he is the standard, what can be said about K., 
Lyutov, and Sammler? Has Jewish history taken us so far afield?  I think 
these three works are important for us precisely because they do reflect 
major trends in modern Jewish experience. They may be universally 
significant, but they draw especially on the challenges Jews have faced and 
continue to confront. German, Russian, and American Jews have undergone 
extraordinary changes in the modern period. These three books convey much 
of their strangeness and estrangement.

Among all these moderns, Sabato may feel a little like a throwback. His 
narrator has none of Tevye's irony. The sweetness of his faith seems to 
derive from a pre-modern age. This young man is so well integrated into his 
community. He looks forward to mature study, marriage, good deeds. Yet with 
this book we have entered the 21st century. The Jews are back in their 
homeland, facing challenges that none of the other protagonists would have 
recognized. The young are called on to protect the rest of the country, if 
necessary, through war, that most primitive of challenges. Jews have 
adjusted to so many different climates and cultures. Now they face the 
biggest adjustment of all, to the climate and culture of the Middle East 
which is where they derive from, and where they are now gathered. Until 
now, when Hasidim hallowed the moon, as they do at the start of Sabato's 
book, their references to "enemies" was somewhat abstract. Here it takes on 
political weight. The culture of innocence must protect its innocent from 
those who are determined to drive the Jews out. As you pointed out, 
"Adjusting Sights" carries the double meaning of learning to shoot straight 
and learning to adjust one's assumptions. Sabato's initiation story invites 
us to learn along with his hero.

Jews are very fortunate to have so many excellent writers. They also have a 
story that bears telling and retelling.
My best to all--Ruth