Agnon's Moonstruck Lovers

This new study confirms Ilana Pardes as one of the most deeply interesting scholars in the field of comparative literature. -- Robert Alter, University of California, Berkeley

Explores the response of Israel's Nobel laureate S Y Agnon to the privileged position of the Song of Songs in Israeli culture. This book recasts Israeli biblicism as a peculiar chapter within the history of biblical exegesis.

Agnon's Moonstruck Lovers explores the response of Israel’s Nobel laureate S. Y. Agnon to the privileged position of the Song of Songs in Israeli culture. Standing at a unique crossroads between religion and secularism, Agnon probes the paradoxes and ambiguities of the Zionist hermeneutic project. In adopting the Song, Zionist interpreters sought to return to the erotic, pastoral landscapes of biblical times. Their quest for a new, uplifting, secular literalism, however, could not efface the haunting impact of allegorical configurations of love. With superb irony, Agnon's tales recast Israeli biblicism as a peculiar chapter within the ever-surprising history of biblical exegesis.