The Zionist Paradox: Hebrew Literature and Israeli Identity

Igal Shvartz, Michal Sapir (Translator)

Research output: Book/ReportBookpeer-review

9 Scopus citations

Abstract

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.

Original languageEnglish
Place of PublicationWaltham, Massachusetts
PublisherBrandeis University Press
Number of pages352
ISBN (Electronic)1584658940, 1611686016, 1611686024, 9781611686012, 9781611686029
ISBN (Print)9781584658948
DOIs
StatePublished - 2014

Publication series

NameThe Schusterman Series in Israel Studies
PublisherBrandeis University Press

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Arts and Humanities (all)
  • Social Sciences (all)
  • Medicine (all)

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