Schedule

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

McNeil Center for Early American Studies, 3355 Woodland Walk (Corner of 34th and Walnut St.)

1:30-2:00     Greetings
Beth S. Wenger, Director of the Jewish Studies Program, University of Pennsylvania
Yigal Schwartz, Director of Heksherim: The Research Institute for Jewish and Israeli Literature and Culture, Ben Gurion University of the Negev
Daniel Kutner, Consul General of Israel to the Mid-Atlantic Region

2:00-3:00     Background and Context

                    Chair: David Ruderman, University of Pennsylvania

Moshe Idel, Hebrew University

Bukovina: The Religious Background from Early Hasidism to the 20th Century

Arnold Band, University of California, Los Angeles

Appelfeld and Agnon

3:00-3:30     Coffee Break

3:30-4:30     Appelfeld and Cinematic Holocaust Testimonials

                    Chair: Peter Decherney, University of Pennsylvania 

Millicent Marcus, Yale University

Introduction, Discussion and Screening of the Documentary All That Remains

[Next session is at Kelly Writers House]

Kelly Writers House, 3805 Locust Walk

5:00-7:00    Dinner reception and program (by invitation)

Introduction, Al Filreis, University of Pennsylvania

Readings from The Story of A Life

Aharon Appelfeld (Hebrew) and Al Filreis (English)

Thursday, October 27, 2011

McNeil Center for Early American Studies, 3355 Woodland Walk (Corner of 34th and Walnut St.)

9:00-10:30     The Jewish Story

                      Chair: Samuel Schneider, Yeshiva University

Naomi Sokoloff, University of Washington

Appelfeld's Katerina: Who Owns the Jewish Past?

Masha Itzhaki, Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales

Aharon Appelfeld – An Immigrant at Home (The Man Who Hasn't Stopped Sleeping)

Shimon Adaf, Ben Gurion University of the Negev
Judaism Lost: On the Urge and the Inability to Be a Jew

10:30-11:00    Coffee Break

11:00-12:00     Language and Biography

                        Chair: Risa Sodi, Yale University

Leslie Epstein, Boston University

The Neglected Masterpiece: Beyond Despair and its Relationship to Aharon Appelfeld's Life & Work

Amia Lieblich, Hebrew University

The Story of a Life in Light of Life Story Scholarship

12:00-1:15     Lunch (by invitation)

1:30-2:30     Holocaust and Diaspora

                    Chair: Benjamin Nathans, University of Pennsylvania

Iris Milner, Tel Aviv University

Diasporism in Appelfeld’s Literature

Yigal Schwartz, Ben Gurion University of the Negev

Wandering and Redemption in the World of Aharon Appelfeld

2:30-5:00    Break

Evening program to be held in Claudia Cohen Hall, room G17, 249 South 36th Street

5:00-5:15    Greeting, Rebecca Bushnell, Dean, School of Arts and Sciences, University of Pennsylvania

5:15-6:15     Aharon Appelfeld in conversation with Nili Gold, University of Pennsylvania

6:15        Book signing (Hebrew and English books for sale)

Sponsors:

University of Pennsylvania: Jewish Studies Program; Kelly Writers House; Middle East Center; Writers Without Borders: the Provost's International Series at the Kelly Writers House; Seth Ginns Fund for International Writers; University Research Foundation; School of Arts and Sciences Conference Support;

Ben Gurion University of the Negev: Heksherim: The Research Institute for Jewish and Israeli Literature and Culture;

The Consulate General of Israel to the Mid-Atlantic Region

We appreciate the generous support of the following departments and programs at University of Pennsylvania [in alphabetical order]: Cinema Studies, English Department, Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures, History Department, Department of Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations, and Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures.

We gratefully acknowledge the special support of: Zahav Restaurant at 237 Saint James Place, Chef/Owner Michael Solomonov; Schocken Books; and Kinneret, Zmora-Bitan Publishing.

Conference Organizers:

Al Filreis (English Department and Kelly Writers House, University of Pennsylvania), Nili Gold (Department of Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations  and Jewish Studies Program, University of Pennsylvania), Yigal Schwartz (Department of Hebrew Literature, and Heksherim: The Research Institute for Jewish and Israeli Literature and Culture, Ben Gurion University of the Negev), and Beth S. Wenger (History Department and Jewish Studies Program, University of Pennsylvania)

Space is limited. Email Chrissy Walsh at chwalsh@sas.upenn.edu or call 215-898-6654.