“And Whatever Corner You Turn It’s Either Garbage and Dirt or a Beard and Sidelocks”: Agnon on Jews, Dirt, and Garbage.

This article examines the aesthetics of dirt in Shmuel Yosef Agnon’s writing, through the perspective of the Anthropocene. I argue that the climate crisis requires a rethinking of many aspects of human life, including the way we think about consumerism, physical objects, bodily fluids, and filth. Ag...

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Publicado en:Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies Vol. 42; no. 2; pp. 68 - 88
Autor principal: Hacohen-Bick, Tafat
Formato: Literary Criticism
Publicado: Purdue University Press 2024
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Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
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        atl: “And Whatever Corner You Turn It’s Either Garbage and Dirt or a Beard and Sidelocks”: Agnon on Jews, Dirt, and Garbage.
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        au: Hacohen-Bick, Tafat
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        Agnon, Shmuel Yosef, 1888-1970
        Climate change
        Hebrew literature
        Modern literature
        Organic wastes
        Hygiene
        20th century (Literary period)
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          Agnon, Shmuel Yosef, 1888-1970
          Climate change
          Hebrew literature
          Modern literature
          Organic wastes
          Hygiene
          20th century (Literary period)
      keyword:
        Agnon
        filth
        garbage
      ab: This article examines the aesthetics of dirt in Shmuel Yosef Agnon’s writing, through the perspective of the Anthropocene. I argue that the climate crisis requires a rethinking of many aspects of human life, including the way we think about consumerism, physical objects, bodily fluids, and filth. Agnon’s writing — situated and struggling between two opposing aesthetic orders — can function as a valuable opportunity for rethinking these issues. I start with two moments of filth: The very short story “Three Sisters,” and the story about Firadeus’s father in the novel Shira. In the main part of the article, I focus on two short stories: “The Orange Peel” and “From Lodging to Lodging,” both published in the late 1930s. I argue that filth and cleanliness are central concepts for understanding the aesthetic role assigned to “the Jew” and their entrance into modernity. Agnon draws a connection between dirt and “the East” as a general category that brings together the wearers of sidelocks, the lower classes, Eastern immigrants, and the Jewish town. The pioneering option, as I demonstrate, fails to contain the dirty remnant, and likewise misses the redemption that is possibly hidden within the trash. Thus, Agnon sullies the possibility of clean literature, bringing into modern Hebrew literature Galician remnants.
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