The State of Afterness

The State of Afterness studies the histories of contemporary music written in and about Israel since the 1980s. With afterness defined as the state of being unconditioned by territorialism, author Assaf Shelleg shows how composers gradually opted for national diasporism while reacknowledging the need to open up Jewish culture to contemporary aesthetic norms. Looking at operatic, symphonic, chamber, and electronic works, this book narrates the cultural history of an Israeli nation and a Jewish civilization still at odds.