The Holocaust
Learn more about: Post-War Immigration and Survivors of the Holocaust.
This article explores the motives behind Holocaust survivors’ choices to rebuild their lives in various places after the second world war. Post-zionist discourse claims that many survivors were manipulated by the Zionist movement to immigrate to Israel, but survivors ended up in many other countries as well. This article explores the personal deliberations and considerations that went into choosing where to immigrate post-war. It explores the decision-making process behind why some immigrants choose to leave Europe, while others were motivated by other concerns, such as “instinctive” Zionism. The article studies over 80 survivor testimonies collected in Israel, Australia, and the United States over the span of twenty years.
Cohen, Sharon Kangisser. “Choosing A Heim: Survivors of the Holocaust and Post-War Immigration.” European Judaism, vol. 46, no. 2, Jan. 2013, pp. 32–54., doi:10.3167/ej.2013.46.02.04.
Learn more about: Israel’s Commemoration of the Holocaust During the First Decade of its Existence.
“Contemporary Israeli discourse has created the impression that during the immediate aftermath of the war, the Holocaust was largely ignored by the Israeli public who seemed disinterested in processing the difficult memory that had recently ensued. This article challenges those notions by offering examples of how Israel did react to the Holocaust and its meaning both poltically and intellectually. This piece discusses patterns of commemoration, the public agenda of 1948 Israel, and the tension that came with survivor immigration. It also discusses what the Holocaust represented for Jewish and Israeli people at this time both symbolically, and historically. It is a useful piece for understanding the time that Proffy is living in, extremely influenced by the impacts of the second world war on the developing national identity of Israel.
Ofer, Dalia. “The Strength of Remembrance: Commemorating the Holocaust During the First Decade of Israel.” Jewish Social Studies, vol. 6, no. 2, 2000, pp. 24–55., doi:10.1353/jss.2000.0004.
The British Mandate
Learn more about: Arab Cultural Nationalism in Palestine During the British Mandate.
“This article focuses on cultural nationalism during the British Mandate. With challenges from the Zionist movement and the intent to create Israel as a Jewish homeland, nationalist writing at the time became centralized around Palestinian orientation. During the British Mandate, a large body of political, creative and historical Palestinian literature was contextualised as cultural nationalist writing. In learning about the ways in which writers connected national themes with literature, we can gain a better understanding of what the sentiments of British-Controlled Palestine felt like for those living through it. Learning about Arab identity can also assist us in understanding the complex realities of Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Abu-Ghazaleh, Adnan. “Arab Cultural Nationalism in Palestine during the British Mandate.” Journal of Palestine Studies, vol. 1, no. 3, 1972, pp. 37–63., doi:10.1525/jps.1972.1.3.00p0004a.
Learn more about: Further Background on the Mandate.
“This encyclopedia article explores the background of the British Mandate, but also goes on to describe the stages of this time period from the demography of Palestine, to the Jewish-Arab Conflict, to the British retreat from Palestine. It is an extremely important article for gaining information on the historical background of this novel, and for having a better understanding of what happened after it.
Ginat, Avital. “British Mandate for Palestine.” 1914-1918 Online: International Encyclopedia of the First World War, Last Updated December 7, 2018.
Scholarship on Panther in the Basement
Learn more about: Hollywood and National Identity in the Novel.
“This article discusses the way the form of this novel is shaped and influenced by technology and cinema. Panther in the Basement is structured into many short, swift chapters. Oz also plays with ideas of time, space and voice in ways that mimic cinematic tools. Like a montage in a film, Oz mimics montage in many of the scenes he writes about with his use of imagery and his changing of old and new perspectives. This is an interesting read about influence, form, and the creative blending of multiple media in order to achieve Amos’ immensely sensory novel.
BLeach, Anthony C. “Hooray for Hollywood: The Creation of an Israeli National Identity in Amos Oz’s Panther in the Basement” Literature/Film Quarterly, vol. 31, no. 1, 2003, pp. 50-56.
Learn more about: Clashing Masculinities in Panther in the Basement.
“This article discusses representations of gender in Middle Eastern fiction and East-West discourse. Focusing on the masculine development of Proffy and Sargeant Dunlap’s more deficient masculinity suggests a reading of the “tension between nationalism and colonialism” through the lens of gender. This short article offers cultural criticism by deconstructing how Panther in the Basement conceptualizes gender and parallels it with political themes on developing identities. This article brings in contemporary ideas of gender and masculinity in order to suggest further intentions that Amos might have had in his writing of this novel.
Yüce, Can Bahadir. “Clashing Masculinities: Amos Oz’s Panther in the Basement.” Rupkatha Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities, vol. 10, no. 2, June 2018, doi:10.21659/rupkatha.v10n2.09.
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Rachel Milberg 2020