Between Negation and Engagement: America's Changing Image in the Israeli Novel

The image of America in Hebrew language novels serves as a compelling barometer of trends in Zionist culture and Israeli society. For decades after Israel's establishment, a caustically negative approach to American Jews and American life colored novels authored by Hebrew writers who helped fashion the image of a new Israeli personality, the pioneering sabra. This article argues that these "negation of the American Diaspora" novels constitute just one phase of Hebrew fiction's encounter with America. It analyzes the roots, implications and content of forms of positive engagement (albeit not full endorsement) of American Jewish milieus that are appreciable in Hebrew novels written before Israel's establishment, and in the last ten or fifteen years.