Publication date:
20 June 2013Length of book:
136 pagesPublisher
Lexington BooksDimensions:
236x158mm6x9"
ISBN-13: 9780739177723
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.
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.