The place, Makom, nonplace: between netivot and Tel Aviv in Shimon Adaf’s Panim zeruvei hamah (Sunburnt faces)

In this article, I argue that Shimon Adaf’s third novel, Panim ẓeruvei ḥamah (Sunburnt Faces, 2008), presents a new interpretation of an old tension in Jewish culture, that is, the tension between a place and the place. The protagonist of Adaf’s novel moves from Netivot, where she spends her childhood, to Tel Aviv, where she lives as an adult. I argue that the movement from periphery to center has similar characteristics to the movement from a place to the place, as both begin with a similar wish, create a certain tension, and, upon fulfillment, end with disappointment. A reading of this movement in Panim ẓeruvei ḥamah will expose these characteristics and their importance to the creation of voice and identity in the novel.