Tradition and Fantasy in the Tales of Reb Nahman of Bratslav

Ora Wiskind-Elper teaches at Michlalah Jerusalem College and at Matan–Women's Institute for Torah Studies.

• Preface Introduction I. The Poet's Self and the Poem 1. The Figure of the Zaddik2. Innovation and Inspiration: Linking Past to Future3. The Approaching Redemption4. Autobiographical Aspects II. Telling Tales; or, The Physics and Metaphysics of Fiction 1. The Sanctification of Fiction in Hasidic Tradition2. Adoption of Narrative Elements from Other Genres FolktalesRabbinic Literature 3. The Torah as Text and Archetype4. Multifarious "Texts" and Their Symbolic Value III. The Romantic Drama 1. Romanticism: A General Definition2. The Romantic Quest3. The Indwelling Life of Nature The GardenMusic 4. In God's Image He Created Her Metaphors of MotherhoodThe Shekhinah: From Mourning to Joy IV. The Dimension of the Fantastic 1. A Characterization of the Fantastic World The Mythical Worm and its EvolutionMythopoetic ArchetypesBetween Past and Future: Nostalgia and ExpectationA Definition of the Fantastic as a Literary Genre 2. Perception and Deception: Transmutations of Reality within the Tale The Dream ParadigmThe Tale Entitled The King's DecreeThe Dream of t he Circle in Hayyei MoharanThe Tale Entitled The Lost Princess and the Song of SongsThe Tale Entitled Fly and Spider 3. Blurring of Boundaries, Shifting Identities Theological Implications: The Kushiya 4. Metamorphosis of Imagery SymbolMetaphorAllegoryThe Tale of Heart and Spring 5. The Effect of the Dimension of the Fantastic on the Listener/Reader Notes Bibliography Index of Subjects Index of Sources

"A work of impeccable scholarship and impressive scope, it builds on all available primary and secondary sources in Hebrew, English, and German about this most protean of religious and imaginative thinkers. There is no other work in any language on Reb Nahman's Tales as thorough, comprehensive, and original as this, and it is fair to say that all subsequent works will be measured against this one. Wiskind-Elper has delivered on both the 'tradition' and 'fantasy' side of her title, which is to say, she has situated Reb Nahman's symbolism, theology, plots, motifs, and style within the huge corpus of Jewish sacred narrative, while at the same time providing a rigorous literary analysis of these tales as exemplars of fantasy literature. In a bold stroke, she has redefined the genre of fantasy literature in terms of Reb Nahman's Tales. Thus, without soft-peddling the otherness of Reb Nahman's religious imagination, she has made it accessible to intelligent readers of any modern persuasion." — David G. Roskies, author of A Bridge of Longing: The Lost Art of Yiddish Storytelling