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- Title
Elisha Ben Abuya, the Hebrew Faust: On the First Hebrew Translation of Faust Within the Setting of the Maskilic Change in Self-Perception.
- Authors
Natkovich, Svetlana
- Abstract
The publication of Meir ha-Levi Letteris's translation-adaptation of Goethe's Faust into Hebrew in 1865 was a prominent event in the contemporary world of Hebrew literature. The translator chose the story of Talmudic sage Elisha Ben Abuya, charged with connotations of otherness, heresy and rebellion, as a framework for absorbtion of Goethe's tragedy. The translation-adaptation provoked a dispute among 19th century Maskilim about two pivotal questions of self-identification - their position relative to Jewish tradition and its canon of exemplary figures, and the role of European literature in the formation of a Hebrew literary canon. The essay argues that the polemics which erupted following the publication of the Hebrew Faust indicated a transition within Maskilic society from universalistic Enlightenment models of self-comprehension and identification to nationalistic particularistic ones.
- Subjects
FAUST (Play : Goethe); SELF-perception; AWARENESS; DOGMA; JUDAISM
- Publication
Naharaim -- Journal of German -- Jewish Literature & Cultural History / Zeitschrift für Deutsch -- jüdische Literatur und Kulturgeschichte, 2014, Vol 8, Issue 1, p48
- ISSN
1862-9148
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1515/naha-2014-0007