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Golem: Modern Wars and Their Monsters
2017 Jordan Schnitzer Book Award in Jewish Literature and Linguistics
Honorable Mention, 2016 Baron Book Prize presented by AAJR
A monster tour of the Golem narrative across various cultural and historical landscapes
In the 1910s and 1920s, a “golem cult” swept across Europe and the U.S., later surfacing in Israel. Why did this story of a powerful clay monster molded and animated by a rabbi to protect his community become so popular and pervasive? The golem has appeared in a remarkable range of popular from the Yiddish theater to American comic books, from German silent film to Quentin Tarantino movies. This book showcases how the golem was remolded, throughout the war-torn twentieth century, as a muscular protector, injured combatant, and even murderous avenger. This evolution of the golem narrative is made comprehensible by, and also helps us to better understand, one of the defining aspects of the last one hundred mass warfare and its ancillary technologies.
In the twentieth century the golem became a figure of war. It represented the chaos of warfare, the automation of war technologies, and the devastation wrought upon soldiers’ bodies and psyches. Modern Wars and Their Monsters draws on some of the most popular and significant renditions of this story in order to unravel the paradoxical coincidence of wartime destruction and the fantasy of artificial creation. Due to its aggressive and rebellious sides, the golem became a means for reflection about how technological progress has altered human lives, as well as an avenue for experimentation with the media and art forms capable of expressing the monstrosity of war.
Honorable Mention, 2016 Baron Book Prize presented by AAJR
A monster tour of the Golem narrative across various cultural and historical landscapes
In the 1910s and 1920s, a “golem cult” swept across Europe and the U.S., later surfacing in Israel. Why did this story of a powerful clay monster molded and animated by a rabbi to protect his community become so popular and pervasive? The golem has appeared in a remarkable range of popular from the Yiddish theater to American comic books, from German silent film to Quentin Tarantino movies. This book showcases how the golem was remolded, throughout the war-torn twentieth century, as a muscular protector, injured combatant, and even murderous avenger. This evolution of the golem narrative is made comprehensible by, and also helps us to better understand, one of the defining aspects of the last one hundred mass warfare and its ancillary technologies.
In the twentieth century the golem became a figure of war. It represented the chaos of warfare, the automation of war technologies, and the devastation wrought upon soldiers’ bodies and psyches. Modern Wars and Their Monsters draws on some of the most popular and significant renditions of this story in order to unravel the paradoxical coincidence of wartime destruction and the fantasy of artificial creation. Due to its aggressive and rebellious sides, the golem became a means for reflection about how technological progress has altered human lives, as well as an avenue for experimentation with the media and art forms capable of expressing the monstrosity of war.
- GenresNonfictionJewish
288 pages, Hardcover
Published October 18, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 27, 2024
LETS GOOO another based book about the golem and zionism . Me going to my boss and presenting him this quote be like:
“So these Israeli works evoke the vulnerability of the Zionist project and reveal the madness and instability that lurk beneath it. The darker side of the militarily “mighty Jewish state,” which can and has been compared to a golem that can potentially run amok, is the injured soldier who—for the length of the narrative at least—refuses to join the dead. The golem thus stands as a troubling remnant of the human losses and moral failures that resulted from the 1948 war” (143).
“So these Israeli works evoke the vulnerability of the Zionist project and reveal the madness and instability that lurk beneath it. The darker side of the militarily “mighty Jewish state,” which can and has been compared to a golem that can potentially run amok, is the injured soldier who—for the length of the narrative at least—refuses to join the dead. The golem thus stands as a troubling remnant of the human losses and moral failures that resulted from the 1948 war” (143).
May 4, 2017
See my review at http://www.thereportergroup.org/Artic...
February 18, 2017
This is a book I read for Reading Religion (http://readingreligion.org) and the review is now live, so here's my take. This is a great book. I've been researching religious monsters for some time and I had found it difficult to find much on the golem. Barzilai has shown that I wasn't looking hard enough.
The golem is a monster made of clay. It's origins are in medieval Judaism where a community suffering persecution led a rabbi to call a golem to life. The problem was that a golem easily sent berserk, killing indiscriminately. Barzilai takes that a step further and notes that the golem is often a response to war. She uses examples from movies, plays, and novels—graphic and textual—to show that it's violence that calls forth a golem. And it is seldom without consequence.
My published review says a bit about the overall scope of the book, but I found this a creative and well researched treatment of the topic. It's also non-technical and accessible to the general reader. I also wrote a bit more about it on my blog: Sects and Violence in the Ancient World. This isn't intended to be a comprehensive study of the golem, but rather it's a selective treatment. Still, it contains all the information a reader will need to find more information. Highly recommended.
The golem is a monster made of clay. It's origins are in medieval Judaism where a community suffering persecution led a rabbi to call a golem to life. The problem was that a golem easily sent berserk, killing indiscriminately. Barzilai takes that a step further and notes that the golem is often a response to war. She uses examples from movies, plays, and novels—graphic and textual—to show that it's violence that calls forth a golem. And it is seldom without consequence.
My published review says a bit about the overall scope of the book, but I found this a creative and well researched treatment of the topic. It's also non-technical and accessible to the general reader. I also wrote a bit more about it on my blog: Sects and Violence in the Ancient World. This isn't intended to be a comprehensive study of the golem, but rather it's a selective treatment. Still, it contains all the information a reader will need to find more information. Highly recommended.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews