HASIFRUT Quarterly for the Study of Literature
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HASIFRUT Quarterly for the Study of Literature Vol. I, No. 1, Spring 1968 Tel-Aviv University HASIFRUT, Quarterly for the Study of Literature, Vol. I, No. 1, Spring 1968. Published by Tel-Aviv University, Israel. Editor: Benjamin Hrushovski; Editorial Secretary: Menakhem Perry. Editorial Council: Benzion Benshalom, Daniel A. Fineman, Dov Sadan. HASIFRUT is published quarterly by Tel-Aviv University, Israel. Annual subscription rates: IL 18.— in Israel; $12 abroad. Single numbers: IL6.— in Israel; $3.50 abroad. Address of Administration: Mif'al Hashikhpul, Tel-Aviv University, P.O.B. 17087. CONTENTS ה . (A Quarterly for the Sutdy of Literature in Israel (Editorial On the Main Branches of Literary Study (B. H.) .... I Studies and Essays Shim'on Sandbank The Paradox in Kafka: On the Occasion of the Hebrew Transla- tion of The Castle............................................................................... 11 Gershon Shaked The Narrator as a Writer: The Function of the Narrator in ׳א1רח נטה ללוף) . S. J. Agnon’s Wayfarer Stopped for a Night (17 Dov Sadan The Woods as Holy Sentinel: An Archetypal Image in Poetry . 36 Dan Pagis Theme, Style, and Structure: Genres in Hebrew Secular Poetry in Spain................................................................................................ 43 The 50th Anniversary of the Death of Mendele Mokher Sfarim ... 63 B.H. Drafts and Revisions of Mendele’s Hebrew Text: Pages from the Archives.................................................................................................63 Menakhem Perry Analogy and its Role as a Structural Principle in the Novels of Mendele Moykher-Sforim.......................................................................65 Interpretations a Descriptive — (״מתי מדבר״) ”Joseph Haephrati Bialik’s “The Dead of the Desert Poema............................................................................................... 101 Theory of Literature: Approaches to the Theory of Fiction Meir Sternberg Wayne C. Booth’s The Rhetoric of Fiction........................................... 130 Joseph Even Represented Speech- A Concept in the Theory of Prose and its Uses in Hebrew Fiction..................................................................... 140 Ziva Ben-Porat The First-Person Novel and its Techniques according to Romberg 153 Prosody Benzion Benshalom The Emergence of the Monosyllabic Rhyme in Hebrew Poetry: On Ch. N. Bialik’s poem “At Sunset”.................................................... 161 Benjamin Hrushovski The Theory and Practice of Rhythm in the Expressionist Poetry of U. Z. Grinberg.............................................................................. 176 Contributions to the History of Hebrew Literature Samuel Werses An Unknown Satirical Work by Joseph Perl: The Periodical Kerem Hemed and its Contributors as Seen by a Hassid 206 Joseph Perl Dashel Ben Tsartil’s Letter to Abraham Joseph .... 218 Reviews of Periodicals (Contents listed in Summaries)....................................................228 English Summaries.........................................................................................................III-XVI Printed in Israel at Mercaz Press, Jerusalem 5jMM ARI ES A quarterly foR the study of embraces three quite distinct activities: interpretation LITERATURE : EDITORIAL of concrete literary works of art, evaluation, and cri- ticism of a writer or a literary movement. Wellek’s •ptiis is the first Hebrew periodical devoted to the concept of Theory of Literature comprises two quite study of literature. The Quarterly intends to repre- distinct, though interrelated, activities: Theory proper sent and encourage literary study in Israel, primarily and Descriptive Poetics, i.e. systematic research deal- in the fields which can be developed here: the study mg with the literary aspects of particular works of of Hebrew and Jewish literature, Theory of Literature literature (comparable to linguistic studies). and Hebrew and Comparative Poetics. The Quarterly The article suggests a more detailed division of intends to fulfil the functions of a variety of period- the main branches, based upon a distinction between icals by devoting special sections to particular branches the kinds of objects dealt with in each of such as: Interpretation, Theory of Literature, Text the interrelated modes of study. Criticism, Prosody, Study of Translations, etc. Special There are three focuses of interest in ljterary stu- attention will be given to the assessment of recent dies: (1) the single work of literature. (2) Litera- contributions to the theory and study of literature ture as it appears in the historical process. (3) Poe- abroad, by accounts — short or extensive — of new tics, or the study of literature as literature, evolving books and articles. A permanent section will survey from questions such as: what is literature? What foreign periodicals, reviewing papers of particular in- are its kinds, appearances, etc.? terest. In the first issue we have initiated a discussion Inquiries stemming from the second field of interest of some approaches to the Theory and Poetics of Fic- (Literary History and Criticism of writers, trends etc.) tion, to be continued in the forthcoming issues. have their objects provided by the historical process It is the aim of this periodical to develop standards (i.e. the works of one writer, the literature of a period, of literary research in Hebrew. On the other hand, a nation, etc.). Their methods of description are Hasifrut intends to appeal to a wider public of therefore heterogeneous. On the other hand, the ob- readers interested in literature. jects of Poetics are defined by the science itself, by its questions and methods. The Theory of Literature, as well as Descriptive Poetics (both historical and synchronic), deal with particular aspects of the lite- ON THE MAIN BRANCHES OF LITERARY rary work, and can develop systematic and pure methods. The second and third fields of interest can STUDY be seen both synchronically and diachronically. by B. H. The systematic discussion of concrete works of literature (Interpretation, Evaluation) gives rise to variety of “approaches” to literature is sometimes quite different problems. Though it is in itself hetero- bewildering. But in general there is no real argument geneous, the facts dealt with are interrelated and between opposing methods or results of inquiry. The form a distinct entity, i.e. the poem discussed. Ob- differences lie rather in the diverse fields of interest, viously, Descriptive Poetics may deal with single aspects as well as with complex phenomena. In the u (he questions asked and the aspects discussed. In- deed, as R, s. Crane has put it: ..] literary criticism latter case an intensive study of single works mav yield fruitful results. A combination of a framework 18 n°t, and never has been, a single discipline. And provided by reality (the novels of one writer or of a a methodology of any science cannot accept a period) and an object posed by Poetics (such as the ׳'6' b°lly relativistic pluralism without analyzing the composition of the novel) is typical of Descriptive ,ructural relations between its main fields of inquiry. r ־?Poetic Tb>s article offers such an analysis, the starting- Several branches deal with the foundations of ?°1Bt of which is R. Wellek’s distinction between literary study proper: Bibliography, Biography, Text- tee main branches of “a systematic and integrated branches belong »־Critkdsm. Th ,,ydy of literature”: Literary Theory, Criticism, and Literature in a wider sense, but their object is not story. jt seems that Wellek’s concept of Criticism"׳ The Main Branches of Literary Study 5 Intrinsic Branches Foundations Background Related Fields Literature in its Aesthetics — — —Poetics Historical Existence History Ontology, Intellectual Hist. .Cultural IHist ־Epistemology... 1 Bibliography I 1 ף■ .Science of Arts — I) Theory of Lit I 1 <־ -----Linguistics I ! Semantics — - I --- > 2) Historical—5 — 7) History of Lit. <5 Sociology of lit. Extrinsic Data I SUMMARIES ה' Poetics | T I (Periodicals, Publishers...) I I I 3) Descriptive I — -^■6) Criticism - Biography Poetics * r I I Psychology of writers I I I Creative Process 1 I 1 1 5) Evaluation /_ J 1 I ז I J זInterpretation (4_ Text Criticism-ר The Work of Art SUMMARIES V The main advantage of making the narrator a writer as such, and their methods are not strictly ״״,literature is the following: it enables the transition from the 1j(gf3ry ones. There are complex interrelations and interdepend- first-person narrator, who is restricted to his own ex- ces between the different branches. The question ternal and internal observation, to the unrestricted״ jjTed in each study determines its object and the cognition of the omniscient author. Agnon endows his tusnch of study it belongs to. Other branches, what- narrator with various attitudes ranging from omni- ever their importance in their own field, become sub- science, through the giving of evidence, and up to in- trospection. The main task of this character is to sidiary. The appended diagram shows in detail the divisions record what he sees and hears. However, the author of the whole field. does not restrict himself to presenting this figure as a witness; it is, in fact, the very situation of bearing witness that becomes a problem. The question is what will happen to the author-witness, who is so influenced THE PARADOX IN KAFKA: ON THE OCCASION by what he sees and hears that he can no longer re- OF THE HEBREW TRANSLATION