Description
Book SynopsisExamines the oeuvre of Shmuel Yosef Agnon through a reading that combines perspectives from economic theory, semiotics, psychoanalysis, narrative theory, and Jewish and religious studies. Sagiv outlines the role economy plays in the construction of religion, subjectivity, language, and thought in Agnon’s work, and, accordingly, explores his literary use of images of debt, money, and economy.
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements A Monetary Prelude: Agnon's Time in Germany Introduction Modern Jewish Economy and the (Relative) Silence of Scholarship Modern Hebrew Literature and Jewish Economy Forever Indebted: Outline of Chapters Chapter 1: The Gift of Debt Debt as an Empty Space Investing Trust and Giving Credit The Infinitely Deferred Debt Questions of Giving The Impossible Gift The Letter, or, When Economies Break Down It's a Difficult Job, but Someone Has to Do It Between Credit and Crisis The Gift of Debt Chapter 2: Talking Through Money Meeting Another Guest The Cost of Flesh: When God Becomes a Debtor Contaminated Money I: Economic Crisis/Religious Restoration Contaminated Money II: Zionism The Capital of Zionism and the Calculation of Narrative Sacred Language and the Gold Standard When Language Betrays the Truth Money: The Agent of Irony The Value of Writing Chapter 3: Can't Buy Me Love Economy in "Times of Change" Accumulation, Consumption, and Lack The Melancholic Lack and the Endless Consumption of Love Hirshl's Madness as Bankruptcy The Bailout and What Remains of Love A Different Economy of Love: An Addendum of Love Dedicated to Mina Chapter 4: The Incomplete Text and the Indebted Author The Garment as Text My Text is a Torn Silk Gown Can One Repair A Torn Garment? To Weave, To Calculate-Indebted Writing Never Ends The Indebted Author as Tragic Figure Impossible Distributions of Time: The Condition of Writing an Incomplete Text The Law of Permanent Debt-Toward a Narrative Theory The Bottom Line: Turning Loss into Excess Conclusion Bibliography English Hebrew
