Israeli Literature and the American Reader


 

Publication Date: January 1997

Publisher: American Jewish Committee

Author(s): Alan Mintz

Research Area: Culture and religion

Keywords: Diaspora Relations; Israel Attachment; Literature; Jewish Culture

Type: Report

Coverage: United States

Abstract:

The author discusses Israeli literature since the 1960s and questions whether it has effectively reached American audiences. He argues that Israeli literature has failed to become part of the intellectual discourse and cultural repertoire of the American Jewish community because of the dynamics of translation and marketing. He discusses a selection of ten Israeli literary works as examples and suggests that this issue reflects a drifting apart of American and Israeli Jewry.