During many meetings and conversations in the last ten years about our_x000D_
profession or even one could say passion – literature, we had the impression_x000D_
that there is much in common between our two literatures – Polish and_x000D_
Hebrew. We decided to put our intuition to the test and see how much truth_x000D_
there is to it, and we organized the conference “Polish and Hebrew Literature_x000D_
and National Identity”, which took place at the University of Warsaw in_x000D_
October 2009. We invited brilliant scholars from both sides, Poland and_x000D_
Israel, who picked up the gauntlet, offering their reflections and prompting_x000D_
discussion on the relations between nationhood and literature from different_x000D_
perspectives. This book compiles extended and revised versions of the papers_x000D_
presented at the conference._x000D_
During the conference sessions, discussions, conversations, as well as the_x000D_
social events in the evenings, we came to the conclusion that there are some_x000D_
very important questions and problems which both literatures address and_x000D_
struggle with._x000D_
The first, and perhaps most central issue is the construction of the_x000D_
concept of nationality; namely, the symbols, myths and images which create_x000D_
national identity. This question has several aspects: Polish, Jewish, Polish-_x000D_
Jewish, Israeli, with another important element being whether the author_x000D_
writes in his/her homeland or in the diaspora. Within these aspects we could_x000D_
recognize similarities between Polish and Hebrew literatures. Here we have_x000D_
to underline that, in our understanding, what defines a literature as Polish_x000D_
or Hebrew is the language of the work and not the national-religious identity_x000D_
of the writer._x000D_
In the opening article, Anita Shapira illustrates Hebrew literature’s_x000D_
reciprocal relations with Zionism, a complex link with a dual perspective,_x000D_
both encouraging and doubting. In her wide-ranging study she shows that_x000D_
it was common for different literatures to shape their respective national_x000D_
10_x000D_
consciousnesses. Through their works, the likes of Pushkin, Mickiewicz,_x000D_
Byron, Smetana, Scott, Hugo and many others formed national identities and_x000D_
political consciousness. Secularization played a great role in this. Instead of the_x000D_
Scriptures, which had lost their hold among the intelligentsia, it was secular_x000D_
literature that created a national-cultural community in the language of the_x000D_
nascent nation. The power of literature was decisive because it is literature_x000D_
that impacts the imagination and emotions most effectively. However, Shapira_x000D_
shows that it was not only Hebrew literature which shaped the Zionist mind,_x000D_
as by and large the highbrow of Hebrew belles-letters consisted of elitist_x000D_
writers who created critical, challenging, pessimistic, and individualistic works,_x000D_
which were by definition intended for a relatively limited readership. Shapira_x000D_
claims that the canon that shaped the Zionist narrative included Hebrew and_x000D_
translated literature, highbrow and lowbrow alike. In that light she points to_x000D_
the influence Polish literature had on the Zionist narrative.
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