Lexington Books
Pages: 136
•
Trim: 6¼ x 9⅜
978-0-7391-7772-3 • Hardback • June 2013 • $84.00 • (£65.00)
978-1-4985-1941-0 • Paperback • May 2015 • $52.99 • (£41.00)
978-0-7391-7773-0 • eBook • June 2013 • $50.00 • (£38.00)
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 inthe Tent: Intermarriage and Conservative Judaism which argues for inclusion of intermarried families in Jewish communal life.
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Loosening the Ties that Bind
Chapter 1: In the Shadow of the Holocaust: Yoram Kaniuk
The Mask of Madness (Adam Resurrected)
The Triumph of Death (His Daughter)
Chapter 2: Chaos and Jerusalem’s Discontents: Orly Castel-Bloom
Laughter Amidst the Ruins (Dolly City)
No Place to Go (Human Parts)
Chapter 3: God, Text, and the Holy Land: Michal Govrin
And God Destroyed Woman (The Name)
God the Father, Father the God (Snapshots)
Chapter 4: The Demise of the New Jew: Zeruya Shalev
Love in a Time of Woe (Love Life)
Things Fall Apart (Husband and Wife)
Conclusion: Towards New Narratives
Afterword
References
Index
About the Author
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