Between Exile and Return: S. Y. Agnon and the Drama of Writing

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments My parents, Rita Pick and Maurice Golomb, led me first to European literature and to Hebrew; my interests reflect some of the patterns oftheir lives. Thanks go to David Patterson and Isaac Barzilay , with whom I first read and began to write about Agnon. In recent years, I have welcomed the critiques and collegiality of Gershon Shaked. This project has brought with it the friendship of Emuna Agnon Yaron and Hayyim Yaron; I hope they will feel that I have added something to the reading ofAgnon. Naomi Sokoloffhas shared her critical insights generously. I am grateful to Rafael Veiser of the Jewish National and University Library in Jerusalem for his help with archival sources. The libraries of Columbia University and the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, as well as the Research Branch of the New York Public Library, have been of great assistance . Research for this book was funded in part by grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Fordham University Research Council, and the Lucius N. Littauer Foundation. The College at Lincoln Center of Fordham University has offered research support and collegiality. The International Center for University Teaching ofJewish Civilization provided a hospitable setting in Jerusalem , in which to share ideas. Various colleagues and friends read all or part of this work and and offered helpful comments. I am grateful to Patricia Clough, Yael Feldman, Maris Fiondella, Nurit Gertz, Avraham Holtz, Alan Mintz, Gershon Shaked, and Naomi Sokoloff. My husband, Leon Hoffman, has been a companionable and rigorous reader, whose interest and support I have always been able to count on. My daughters, Miriam and Liora, sustained me with their enthusiasm and love of books, while reminding me to keep my priorities in order. Earlier versions of portions of chapters 5, 6, and 7 appeared in the following publications: Prooftexts 2:265-82, Hebrew Annual Review 11:153-71, and S.Y. Agnon: Texts and Contexts in English Translation, ed. Leon Yudkin (New York, 1988). Permission to reprint is gratefully acknowledged. ...