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Three Novels Dealing with Israel

This study will examine the uses to which the nation of Israel is put in three novels: Exodus, by Leon Uris; Loving Kindness, by Anne Roiphe; and Portnoy's Complaint, by Philip Roth. In fact, Israel is mentioned significantly only in Uris' novel which is, after all, a history of the birth of the nation of Israel. Accordingly, the study will specifically deal with how the three writers use the concept of Israel to comment on matters of Jewish-American identity.

Leon Uris' novel is the most simple of the three works. Uris unabashedly declares that he has set out to write a book which shows Jews and Israel in the best possible light. It is no surprise, then, to find the Jewish-American characters in Uris' novel are. in general, all upstanding citizens who would do anything for Israel and who are all equally proud of their heritage. Uris must certainly feel that he has done Israel and Jewish-Americans a great favor to have portrayed the nation and them in such a constantly favorable light, but in fact what he has done is rob them of their originality and individuality. Uris obviously despises Jews who question themselves or the state of the world, who have any sense of guilt, who are clever, brilliant, sneaky or sulking, (author's statement), who display, in short, any of the characteristics which make every human being a human being. The argument could be fairly made that Uris, by editing out of his characters all the traits which he does not care for, is himself self-hating. In any case, his book suffers because the characters---Jewish-American and otherwise---are wooden and two-dimensional. No true artist would set out to create a book about such a diverse land and people as Israel and Jewish-Americans and be determined to edit out all the traits he considers undesirable. One might even suggest that there is something of the fascist in Uris himself as a writer. Is it not a part of the Nazi creed to want to get rid of all the traits...

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Three Novels Dealing with Israel. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 14:37, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1681498.html