Primal Visions

Now that you've read this essay, what would you expect Yoel Hoffman's novel, Moods, to be like? (If you've started it already, how does the book align w/ what you've read here?) Adam Kirsch writes that "Voice and imagery do much more than narrative to make his work cohere, to the extent that he is interested in coherence..." Remember: the theme of this 101 class is "voice." What is voice in writing? What is coherence? Choose one of Kirsch's quotes of the six Hoffmann novels under discussion here and write about what you think the quote is doing. Other questions that I have:

• Why is this essay called "Primal Visions"?
• To me, one quote that Kirsch offers captures Hoffmann's philosophy, aesthetics, and style/voice (from the novel Bernhard): "More wonderful than the wonders people sit and talk about, is the fact that they sit and talk..." What does this quote mean to you?
• What significance does the Holocaust seem to have for Hoffman's writing? 
• The word fragment is used five times in the essay. What is a fragment and what do you think it has to do w/ Hoffmann's writing?
• Kirsch compares Hoffmann to the modern paintings of the Russian-Jewish artist, Marc Chagall (b. 1887, d. 1985). The following are some paintings by Chagall. What qualities do you notice about these artworks? 

To Russia, Asses and Others, 1911


Calvary (Golgotha), 1912

The Drunkard, 1912

As we start this new book, what question(s) do you have?