Der israelische Aphoristiker Elazar Benyotz

The once dominant role played by the art of aphorism in the various genres of European literature is a thing of the past. The present study sets out to show why traditional contemporary aphoristic writing is frequently derivative and how the poet Elazar Benyoëtz breaks with the conventions prevailing in it. Of significance here, as in the much broader currents of contemporary philosophy, is the way in which the individual 'other' attains a new status over and against the 'self' in Benyoëtz' work. Whereas in traditional aphoristic writing the 'other' is largely addressed via the unmasking of collective clichés, Benyoëtz draws upon the individualising elements of aphoristic discourse to achieve an individualisation of the 'other'.