Broken Visions and Weak Prophecies: Literary Approaches to Catastrophe

Session Submission Type: Roundtable

Abstract

How can catastrophe and despair give rise to creativity? How might the themes of exile, failure, and alienation transform literary and theoretical forms? From biblical prophecy, through piyyut and lamentation, to modern Hebrew poetry, this roundtable explores the legacy of the prophetic mode in literature, liturgy, and theory. Participants will address the following set of questions from the context of their research:

--How does your research contend with the ongoing prevalence of prophecy?
--What alternative visions of nationalism can we develop based on the prophets or other Jewish sources read against the grain?
--How does contemporary prophecy construct or destabilize authority?
--What does prophetic poetry look like in 2024?

Tafat HaCohen-Bik will discuss the replacement of the figure of the prophet with the figure of the mourner in contemporary Hebrew literature. She examines contemporary literature and identifies the biblical mythologies to which it returns while suggesting lamentation as a genre that seeks to wail at the heart of the current reality. She also explores how the legacy of the weak prophet might help us understand secularization processes in modern Hebrew literature.

Nitzan Lebovic engages with “weak prophecy” from the perspective of political theology and intellectual history, in general, or “political prophecy,” in particular. He asks whether articulations of weak prophecy such as the stutter, flicker, or gap should be viewed as an expression of comprise and complacency, rather than considered as forms of dissent and subversion.

Yosefa Raz asks us to consider how prophecy is being reinvented post-October 7th. On the one hand, biblical prophecy has been used to shore up nationalist ideals, military strength, and assurance in the dream of Zion. On the other hand, prophecy has long been a mode of negotiating with looming catastrophe, jumping from ice floe to ice floe over the abyss. Raz illuminates moments in contemporary poetry that establish the figure of prophecy not as a voice of certainty and assurance, but as one of weakness and instability, with the power to block, undermine, and even unravel hegemonic powers.

Oren Yirmiya will discuss biblical prophecy and classic piyyut as two intertwined models for modern Hebrew lyric poetry, pairing the concept of “weak prophecy” with that of piyyutic polyphonic intertextuality. Yirmiya shows the weak power available for poets traversing between the two models in mourning catastrophe and how the piyyutic evocation of prophecy sublimates loss into a shared culture that can outlive the “strong power” of empire and state.

Sub Unit

• Modern Jewish Literature and Culture

Moderator

• Maya Barzilai, University of Michigan

Discussants

• Tafat Hacohen-Bick, Polonsky Acadamy, Van Leer Institute

• Nitzan Lebovic, Lehigh University

• Yosefa Raz, University of Haifa

• Oren Yirmiya, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

Zoom Host

• Zoom Host 09