Mapu’s Meliẓah, Auerbach’s Figura and Mendelsohn’s Sublime: Rhetoric and the Critique of Haskalah Ideology.
This article revisits the concept of meliẓah (eloquent language) and its significance in the development of Hebrew literary thought. The study begins with an analysis of meliẓah in the works of maskilim and scholars of Haskalah such as Euchel, Zederbaum, and Finer, who typically viewed meliẓah as a...
| Published in: | Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies Vol. 42; no. 2; pp. 21 - 47 |
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| Format: | Literary Criticism |
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Purdue University Press
2024
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| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=181265190&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 181265190 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 08828539 6A0 jtl: Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies issn: 08828539 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: 2024 vid: 42 iid: 2 pid: 19334 pub: Purdue University Press artinfo: ui: 181265190 10.1353/sho.2024.a946466 ppf: 21 ppct: 26 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P size: 2.5MB tig: atl: Mapu’s Meliẓah, Auerbach’s Figura and Mendelsohn’s Sublime: Rhetoric and the Critique of Haskalah Ideology. aug: au: Banbaji, Amir su: Hebrew literature Linguistic usage Haskalah Figures of speech Mendelssohn, Moses, 1729-1786 Mapu, Abraham Social reality 19th century (Literary period) sug: subj: Hebrew literature Linguistic usage Haskalah Figures of speech Mendelssohn, Moses, 1729-1786 Mapu, Abraham Social reality 19th century (Literary period) keyword: Abraham Mapu aesthetics Erich Auerbach Hebrew literary theory Jewish Enlightenment Marxist literary theory meliẓah Moses Mendelssohn ab: This article revisits the concept of meliẓah (eloquent language) and its significance in the development of Hebrew literary thought. The study begins with an analysis of meliẓah in the works of maskilim and scholars of Haskalah such as Euchel, Zederbaum, and Finer, who typically viewed meliẓah as a derivative concept that serves a wider philosophical or historical framework. The main body of the article explores how maskilim used meliẓah and figurative language in ways that question the aesthetic affirmation of philosophical knowledge and challenge established views of historical continuity. Drawing from Erich Auerbach’s elaborate discussion of figurative speech, this study illustrates how Hebrew writers, including Moses Mendelssohn and Abraham Mapu, employed meliẓot not just to embellish already-accepted images of nature or history. In a manner akin to Auerbach’s figura, meliẓah highlights the evasive, transitory, and ideological aspects of literary mediations of history, leading to alternative mediations. The concluding sections focus on Abraham Mapu’s fictional portrayal of meliẓah, arguing it should not be read as an imitation of Alexander Pope’s concept of “wit.” Instead of portraying nature or history in their “methodized” version, I show how Mapu’s fiction deprives historical fiction of its rationalist and idealist aura. Rather than self-justifying images, Mapu’s meliẓot operate as rhetorical structures that summon up conflicted versions of social reality pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Literary Criticism src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: Copyright of Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies is the property of Purdue University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. item: Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies holder: Purdue University Press dt: @attributes: year: 2024 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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