The Zionist Paradox: Hebrew Literature and Israeli Identity

by Yigal Schwartz, Michal Sapir (Translator)

Overview

Many contemporary Israelis suffer from a strange condition. Despite the obvious successes of the Zionist enterprise and the State of Israel, tension persists, with a collective sense that something is wrong and should be better. This cognitive dissonance arises from the disjunction between “place” (defined as what Israel is really like) and “Place” (defined as the imaginary community comprised of history, myth, and dream).

Through the lens of five major works in Hebrew by writers Abraham Mapu (1853), Theodor Herzl (1902), Yosef Luidor (1912), Moshe Shamir (1948), and Amos Oz (1963), Schwartz unearths the core of this paradox as it evolves over one hundred years, from the mid-nineteenth century to the 1960s.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781584658948
Publisher:	Brandeis University Press
Publication date:	09/02/2014
Series:	Schusterman Series in Israel Studies Series
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

YIGAL SCHWARTZ is professor of Hebrew literature and director of Heksherim: The Research Institute for Jewish and Israeli Literature and Culture, Ben Gurion University.

Table of Contents

Preface and Acknowledgments
Introduction
Avraham Mapu, The Love of Zion (1853): The Beautiful Daughter of Zion, the (Faux) Shepherd Boy and the Cutting Up of the Monster
Theodor Herzl, Altneuland (1902): Shall These Dry Bones Live
Yosef Luidor, “Yoash” (1912): The Taste of Freedom and Space
Moshe Shamir, He Walked in the Fields (1948): It Turned Out It Was All Fake . . .
Amos Oz, “Nomads and Viper” (1963): A Short, Patched European Jacket over a White Desert Robe
Notes
Bibliography
Index

What People are Saying About This

Amos Oz

“Yigal Schwartz’s pathbreaking book on modern Hebrew literature is a daring, original, and very readable study of many crucial aspects of our contemporary literature. Schwartz offers a point of view that combines deep love for his subject with subtle critical observations. This book is an eye-opener for anyone who loves Hebrew literature and, in fact, for anyone who loves literature.”

Editorial Reviews

The Zionist Paradox is a must read for anyone interested in the complex understanding of Israeli literature and its exploration of Zionist mythologies of time and space. . . Schwartz’s analysis challenges the reader to rethink the ways in which these literary texts confront and reshape Jewish society and collective identities, the construction of a Jewish national space, and Israelis’ relationship to the homeland.”—Yael Zerubavel, professor of Jewish studies and history, Rutgers

"[Schwartz] provides sensitive new perceptions of familiar texts through cartographic readings. . . . This study . . . can help readers appreciate the the special role of Hebrew literature in Israeli society and the ways it has tussled mightily with multifaceted issues of identity and purpose. . . . Schwartz's book presents richly detailed readings . . . of texts that have had tremendous impact and continue to reward careful scrutiny. It's well worth it to foray into the intricacies of his analysis."—AJS Review

From the Publisher