Beyond Metaphysics: B'Tselem / In the Image—on Literature and the Arts in Our (Post)Secular Age

Reflecting on poetry, prose, and the visual arts of the post–Second World War era, this short essay points to what I see as a broad tendency in literature and the arts to move away from metaphysical ideas regarding politics and ethics. Specifically, I suggest that many writers and artists of our post-1945 era transform the ancient biblical metaphor of humankind as created “in the image” of God into a viable framework for discussing and debating how to negotiate our various ideas regarding a better future. Building on my recent book, Futurity: Contemporary Literature and the Quest for the Past, I wish to link the broad notion of futurity I develop there to a specific mode of engagement with what is to come: the idea of a future shaped by the inviolability of and respect for the life and dignity of all.