"Much Delusion that is in Good Will": Aharon Appelfeld's Ambivalent Position on Zionism—In His Non-Fiction and in His Fiction

Since the appearance of Aharon Appelfeld's first collection of stories, Smoke, in 1962, Appelfeld has conducted a covert and an overt dialogue with the Zionist movement. This exchange finds expression in his fiction and in his published essays and interviews with the press. The concern of this article is to compare Appelfeld's stance on Zionism as reflected in each of the two forms of textual expression he practices, fiction and journalism/essays. Juxtaposing the two forms reveals not only tension but actual contradiction: Appelfeld's non-fiction mostly exudes a harshly critical tone from the author, but reading his fiction, one finds something different: the early Appelfeld indeed criticizes Zionism in his books, but the later writer forgoes his critical note and in fact joins in the Zionist discourse, which he undermined in his non-fiction.