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Golem: Modern Wars and Their Monsters
Contributor(s): Barzilai, Maya (Author)
ISBN: 1479889652     ISBN-13: 9781479889655
Publisher: New York University Press
OUR PRICE:   $71.25  
Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats
Published: October 2016
Qty:
Additional Information
BISAC Categories:
- Literary Criticism | Jewish
- Social Science | Folklore & Mythology
- Religion | Judaism - Theology
Dewey: 296.382
LCCN: 2016017269
Physical Information: 1.2" H x 6.2" W x 9" (1.30 lbs) 288 pages
Themes:
- Religious Orientation - Jewish
- Ethnic Orientation - Jewish
 
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc.
Publisher Description:

2017 Jordan Schnitzer Book Award in Jewish Literature and Linguistics

Honorable Mention, 2016 Baron Book Prize presented by AAJR

A monster tour of the Golem narrative across
various cultural and historical landscapes

In the 1910s and 1920s, a "golem cult" swept across Europe and the U.S., later surfacing in Israel. Why did this story of a powerful clay monster molded and animated by a rabbi to protect his community become so popular and pervasive? The golem has appeared in a remarkable range of popular media: from the Yiddish theater to American comic books, from German silent film to Quentin Tarantino movies. This book showcases how the golem was remolded, throughout the war-torn twentieth century, as a muscular protector, injured combatant, and even murderous avenger. This evolution of the golem narrative is made comprehensible by, and also helps us to better understand, one of the defining aspects of the last one hundred years: mass warfare and its ancillary technologies.

In the twentieth century the golem became a figure of war. It represented the chaos of warfare, the automation of war technologies, and the devastation wrought upon soldiers' bodies and psyches. Golem: Modern Wars and Their Monsters draws on some of the most popular and significant renditions of this story in order to unravel the paradoxical coincidence of wartime destruction and the fantasy of artificial creation. Due to its aggressive and rebellious sides, the golem became a means for reflection about how technological progress has altered human lives, as well as an avenue for experimentation with the media and art forms capable of expressing the monstrosity of war.

New Books Network interview with Maya Barzilai on Golem


Contributor Bio(s): Barzilai, Maya: - Maya Barzilai is Assistant Professor of Hebrew Literature and Jewish Culture at the University of Michigan.