Overview

Death of a Holy Land: Reflections in Contemporary Israeli Fiction, by Rose Levinson, uses the work of four contemporary Israeli authors as a lens into present-day Israel. Discussing the novels of Orly Castel-Bloom, Michal Govrin, Zeruya Shalev, and Yoram Kaniuk, the book argues for a new understanding of today's Israel. Crucial to renewed awareness is a view of the country that jettisons the notion of Israel as an exceptional, sacred state immune from 21st century discontents. Attention is focused on ways in which many of Israel's most pressing problems are linked to long-standing issues of Jewish identity. Continual reference to the novels gives weight and substance to Death of a Holy Land's underlying insistence on the need for a critical view of Israel as a country deeply ill-at-ease with itself.

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9781498519410

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This book contributes to English-language discussion of Hebrew literature through its clear presentation of plot summaries and its discerning attention to thematic elements of individual novels. Far too little commentary on Israeli fiction exists in English. Levinson usefully details Kaniuk's condemnations of militarism and Castel-Bloom's satirical depictions of nationalism run amok. H-Net: Humanities and Social Science Reviews Online Death of a Holy Land offers remarkably original and nothing short of a pioneering view of contemporary Israeli fiction ...this part of the book will most definitely make a significant contribution to the literature on the subject of contemporary Jewish prose. The variety of issues and originality of the approach are very refreshing with a great deal of attention to detail and arguments logical and convincing. -- Nyusya Milman-Miller, Virginia Tech Rose Levinson's deeply engaged study of four Israeli writers reveals how these important artists explore some of the deepest conflicts within their society: the memory of the Holocaust, the absurdity of governmental institutions, the challenge of Judaism for secular Israelis and the dilemmas of domestic life. While each of these authors deals with her or his private demons, Levinson perceptively demonstrates how the broader social context gives their work public meaning. This is a book for anyone acutely concerned about the future of the Jewish state. -- David Biale, University of California, Davis Rose Levinson's Death of a Holy Land is a fine book. Through sensitive, admirably clear and well written readings of Israeli fiction, Levinson reveals a strand of deep disenchantment with the secular, leftist Zionist project on the part of four of its leading inheritors. Reveals a side of Israeli culture that is most frequently hidden from the general public outside of Israel. -- Daniel Boyarin, Univ of California at Berkeley

Author Information

Rose Levinson, Ph.D. teaches courses relevant to Jewish identity at the University of San Francisco where she is Adjunct Professor. Active in contributing to dialogue around cultural shifts, she co-wrote A Place in the Tent: Intermarriage and Conservative Judaism which argues for inclusion of intermarried families in Jewish communal life.

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