A300, American History I, Spring 2008 (Prof. Konstantin Dierks)

1.  David Grossman, “Writing in the Dark” (2007):  A prize-winning Israeli novelist, David Grossman writes similarly to Russell Banks about human segregation and alienation:  an inability to imagine other kinds of lives.  If Banks writes about this dilemma mainly in cultural terms, Grossman adds structural terms --  not just cultural difference, but political conflict.  For Grossman, because everyone is trapped in the same global context of violence and suffering, and because everyone seems equally unable to overcome that overwhelming trap, this might be the basis for empathy.  As a writer, Grossman begins with attending to the importance of language and its potential to convey connection rather than alienation, empathy rather than animosity.  For the moment, though, language seems debased -- another structure which tends to entrap people inside alienation, animosity, violence, and suffering -- which, in turn, prolongs these miseries in the world.

So, what kinds of choices and steps does Grossman take as a person and citizen, engaged in politics, even when politics seem hopeless?

What kinds of choices and steps does he take as a writer, even when writing seems trivial?  What does he believe writing can do to counteract the political conflicts and mental traps of the world?  (Like Banks, Grossman is insisting upon the power of leaps of imagination.)

2.  What do you do to help yourself overcome whatever sense of disempowerment you have?  How can you change the world?  Can you?

3.  What do you do to help yourself overcome the mental traps of your culture?  Can you feel empathy?  If not, why not?  If so, how?