JNEntertainment
Writing The Jewish Future
The world's leading-Jewish literary figures commence a global conversation.
'NI
OWEN ALTERMAN
Special to The Jewish News
E:
High-quality
article reprints
can help your
company in
many ways:
• Increased
EXPOSURE
for your product
or service
• Credible,
believable
information
that consumers
TRUST
• Great SALES
tools for trade
shows, mailings
and media kits
• Powerful
EDUCATIONAL
RESOURCE for
consumers and
employees
Contact
(717) 560-2001
for complete
information on how
article reprints can
benefit your
company.
REPRINT
MANAGEMENT
SERVICES TM
1/3 0
1998
94
147 West Airport Road
Box 5363
Lancaster, PA 17606-5363
Phone: (717) 560-2001
Fax: (717) 560-2063
ow do we create an
authentic Jewish culture in
an age of "Disneyfication"?
How do we create an
authentic Jewish religious culture in
an age of secularization and funda-
mentalism? What links the Jewish cul-
tural experience in diverse countries
around the world?
From Chaim Potok and Tony
Kushner to Hillel Halkin and Gabi
Gleichman, very different Jewish writ-
ers may have some very different
answers to these questions as they
come together at a February confer-
ence titled "Writing the Jewish Future:
A Global Conversation."
Approximately 40 writers from
around the world will convene in the
San Francisco Bay Area Feb.
1-3 to discuss the present and
future of the Jewish world as
a whole, and the role of
Jewish writers in it. Each day
explores a general theme:
Feb. 1: "The Jew as
Writer/The Writer as Jew" (at
the University of California in
Berkley) considers the impact
of being a member of both
"majority and "minority" cultures.
Feb. 2: "The Crisis of Subject
Matter: What Jewish Writers Are
Writing" (at the Mark Hopkins Hotel
in San Francisco) looks at text and tra-
dition, the Holocaust 50 years later
and Israel in Jewish writing.
Feb. 3: "Jewish Language" (at
Stanford University in Palo Alto)
focuses on the complexities of transla-
tion and the question of bridging the
secular and the spiritual.
The conference will be a public
event, with the public listening in to
the writers' conversations and partici-
pating in the discussion. The day ses-
sions will be followed by related
evening programs, also open to the
public, including poetry readings and
film screenings.
"This [year's] conference is, to the
best of my knowledge, the first to
Owen Alterman is a junior at
Princeton University.
explore with leading Jewish writers
from throughout the world, the
impact on their work of a Jewish pub-
lic, of Jewish obligations, Jewish
themes and preoccupations," said
Stanford University Professor Steven
Zipperstein, co-chair of the confer-
ence's academic advisory committee.
The National Foundation for
Jewish Culture (NFJC), sponsor of the
conference, also organized a confer-
ence ten years ago for Israel's 40th
the conference may help American
Jews appreciate not only the Jewish
writers from Israel and the United
States, but others as well.
The NFJC does more than sponsor
once-a-decade literary conferences.
Schiffrin said NFJC's work is a "little
bit behind the scenes," but that the
group supports many projects in the
Detroit area or of local interest.
The Janice Charach Epstein
Museum Gallery in the Maple-Drake
Participating Writers
North America
Max Apple, Chana Bloch,
Joseph Epstein, Allegra Goodman,
John Hollander, Irena Lepfisz, Tony
Kushner, Alan Mintz, Cynthia
Ozick, Grace Paley, Chaim Potok,
Moacyr Scliar (Brazil), Ilan Stavans
(Mexico)
ISRAEL
Yehuda Amichai, Aharon
Appelfeld, Na lm Araydi, Nitza
Ben-Dov, Menachem
Brinker, Orly Castel-
Bloom, Sidra Ezrahi,
Hillel Halkin, Yehudit
Hendel, Sarni Michael,
Nava Semel, Ronny
Someck
EUROPE
Henryk Broder
Cynthia Ozick, Yehuda Amichai and Gila Lustiger (Germany), Gabi
are among the writers participating in next week's
Gleichman (Sweden),
conference.
Dan Jacobson
(England), George
Mordechai Richter, Jonathan
Konrad (Hungary), Gila Lustiger
(Germany), Morman Manea
Rosen, Leon Wieseltier
(Romania), Emanuel Moses
(France), Anthony Rudolf
Latin America
Victor Perera, (Guatemala),
(England)
birthday. That event hosted 30 writers
from North America and Israel and
explored issues dealing with Israel-
Diaspora relations. The group hopes
this year's version will look into the
"larger possibilities of a transnational
Jewish culture."
"We're hoping to bring some of
these [European and Latin American]
writers to the attention" of the
American audience, said Dan
Schiffrin, NFJC's director of commu-
nications. With guests like Victor
Perera (Guatemala) or Gabi
Gleichman (Sweden), Schiffrin said,
JCC, the upcoming documentary The
Lift and Times of Hank Greenberg and
several fellowships are all supported by
the foundation. The NFJC is also
planning for its national board meet-
ing in Detroit next fall. El
For tickets to "Writing the Jewish
Future," call (415) 896-6824.
For more information, including
suggested readings from the
participating authors, check out
the NCJF Web site at
http:/www.Jewishculture.org/writ-
ers.