Israel Through the Jewish-American Imagination: A Survey of Jewish-American Literature on Israel, 1928-1995

237 Pages·1997·22.22 MB·English

by  Andrew Furman

Israel Through the
Jewish-American Imagination
SUNY Series in
Modern Jewish Literature and Culture
Sarah Blacher Cohen, Editor
Israel Through the
Jewish-American Imagination
A Survey ofJ ewish-American Literature
on Israel, 1928-1995
Andrew Furman
STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK PRESS
Production by Ruth Fisher
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Published by
State University of New York Press, Albany
©1997 State University of New York
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Furman, Andrew, 1968-
Israel through the Jewish-American imagination: a survey of
Jewish-American literature on Israel, 1928-1995/ Andrew Furman.
p. cm. - (SUNY series in modern Jewish literature and
culture)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-7914-3251-3 (hc: alk. paper). - ISBN 0-7914-3252-1 (pb
alk. paper)
1. American fiction-Jewish authors-History and criticism.
2. Israel-In literature. 3. Jewish fiction-United States-History
and criticism. I. Title. II. Series.
PS153. J4F87 1997
813' .509325694 '089924--dc20 96-18577
CIP
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To my grandparents,
Ruth and Herbert Dickstein, and Dorothy and Ralph Furman
and
To my parents,
Nancy and Stephen Furman, who still correct my English

CONTENTS
Acknowledgments IX
Chapter 1 Introduction: Israel, The Foremost Preoccupation
of the American Jew 1
Chapter 2 Meyer Levin Against the Grain: A Zionist Writer
Takes on America's Pre-Zionist Zeitgeist 21
Chapter 3 Embattled Uris: A Look Back at Exodus 39
Chapter 4 Saul Bellow's Middle East Problem 59
Chapter 5 Hugh Nissenson's Israel: In Search of a
Viable Jewish Ethos in Israel 83
Chapter 6 Zionism in Chaim Potok's The Chosen,
Messianic Complications, and Current Crises 109
Chapter 7 Philip Roth's Nerve in The Counterlife and
Operation Shylock: A Confession:
"Jewish Mischief' and the Post-Colonial Critique 127
Chapter 8 Anne Roiphe's Angst: A Jewish-American
Feminist Looks at Israel 153
Chapter 9 Tova Reich's Daring Vision; or, the Feminization
ofIsrael's Penitent 175
Chapter 10 Conclusion 197
Works Cited 203
Index 219
vii