Chewing on Air: Tow Ard a Sensory Interpretation of S. Y. Agnon's 'oreah

THE STUDY AND ENJOYMENT of the fiction of s. Y. Agnon has occupied and inspired Hebrew and non-Hebrew readers for a greater part of this century. Agnon 's penchant for depicting his East-European Jewish cultural and spiritual heritage, compounded by his literary genius, has rendered his fiction a veritable treasure-trove of detail portraying traditional Jewish life. Agnon 's work is an expression of his world-view and the dilemmas of the Jew in the modem world. Even now, a decade after his death, the study of Agnon 's writing has not abated in the least bit but appears to be growing and spreading, a fitting testimony to tht< author's greatness. As any experienced reader of Agnon 's fiction has learned, the elements comprising "local color" also serve as significant symbolic devices in the works of this modem Hebrew writer. It is needless to add that, in this respect, the Hebrew novel we shall be dealing with, 'Oreah nata la fun. namely A Wayfarer Who Tarried for a Night ,1 is not unlike the rest of this author's literary creation. The novel's rich detail depicts Jewish life in the hero's past and present. To these details Agnon adds more universal embellishments which seem to pertain less specifically to Jewish custom. These elements, as will be