קונגרס העולמי ה-18 למדעי היהדות

The stories of Rabbi Nachman of Braslav in the context of contemporary European Romantic literature

author.DisplayName

Rabbi Nachman of Braslav`s "Book of Stories" was published in 1816, six years after his death. The thirteen stories that comprise this book are unique literary works that are, on the one hand, the product of Rabbi Nachman`s imagination, and on the other hand, seem to echo and interplay with many symbols and themes from Biblical, midrashic, kabbalistic and other classical Jewish sources. However, in this presentation, I would like to address an additional aspect of the concerns and interests that these stories reflect, namely themes and concerns that were central in the poems and stories of contemporary non-Jewish poets and prose writers across Europe. This literary explosion of what we term today "the Romantic tradition in the arts" enables us to find surprising parallels between Rabbi Nachman`s stories and the works of other European writers of the day. Even though Rabbi Nachman was not part and parcel of the European literary establishment of his day (writing in German, French and English), his stories reflect many of the basic trends and innovations of contemporary Romantic literary tradition. We will try to bring concrete examples of this, and to show, through a short but concise literary analysis, how some of his most important stories reflect the concerns of other writers and poets of this period. In particular I would like to show some parallels between Rabbi Nachman`s work and the literary creations of the important British poet, William Blake, in England. These corresponding trends include a negative attitude towards rationalism and the Enlightenment; the importance of the imagination; and the centrality of dreams.