JWST 421 - Topics in Israeli Art, Film, Music, Culture, & Society - Jerusalem in Israeli Cinema and Literature

Unit(s): 3-4

This course is aimed at students who are interested in studying Israeli society as expressed in literature and cinema. Jerusalem is prominently figured in the stories, poems, essays, and films of Israeli writers and filmmakers. The course will address the multifaceted, ambivalent, and at times, schizophrenic depiction of the city, not only in the overall body of Israeli literature and cinema, but, often, within a single work. The course will employ various literary and cinematic theories to expand our critical framework in the analysis of the works we will study. The course will explore the following topics: war and peace, religion and spirituality, symbolism and iconography, the Jerusalem Syndrome, home and exile, belonging and alienation.

Grading: GRD