University Libraries Promotion and Tenure Recognition

Not only love and darkness co-exist within this book, but also fact and fiction, hope and despair, ideology and reality and a personal story written by a child about his parents intertwining with a communal story of national rebirth. And yet, while it is probably the ultimate work of Hebrew literature, Israeli and local in its essence, this book has become an international bestseller, earning acclaim in cultures that share few, if any, commonalities with Israeli culture. Mainly for this reason, I have chosen this book that has affected so much my understanding of Israel and its culture as the one that carries special meaning for me. Amos Oz, who is both one of Israel's most prominent writers and a leading peace activist, is an admirable example of an intellectual who maintains a deep identification with the plight of his people and is proud of his heritage, but at the same time, communicates well with cultures not his own and cares about the plight of others, his nemeses included. The success of this book and its cross-cultural appeal illustrates that cultural uniqueness does not mean cultural closure. As such it helps highlight a central claim in my studies of the institutionalized closure of Israeli culture.