Supplement

This chapter concludes with a final thought on consensus and dissensus in Francophone Jewish writers’ affective and cognitive responses to Israel. With the support of a grant from the British Academy, Cairns conducts thirteen interviews with authors that ultimately helped to contribute to this text.

Arab–Israeli Conflict Turned Franco–Israeli Conflict

This chapter assesses the conflict between Israel and France, which exists as a consequence of France’s perceived systematic anti-Israeli/anti-Zionist bias. In her discussion, Cairns analyses the link between French hostility towards Israel and the increase of antisemitism in twenty-first century France and twenty-first century Israeli’s view of France as a deeply anti-Semitic country.

Arab–Israeli Conflict

‘Arab–Israeli Conflict’ explores Francophone Jewish writers’ representations of the Israeli-Palestinian/Jewish-Arab conflict. The chapter focuses in particular on the damage caused by the conflict between the two communities, and includes a discussion on the trauma experienced by survivors and victims, as well as Israel’s resulting vulnerability to attack and its subsequent need for constant military vigilance.

Intra-Israeli Conflict

‘Intra-Israeli Conflict’ examines how the primary corpus represents conflict between different ethnic and political demographics among Jews in Israel. Using cognitive science, social psychology, and cognitive psychology, Cairns attempts to understand how and why conflict comes to be. The chapter takes an in-depth view at the immigrants who form the main constituents of Francophone communities in Israel, namely those of Moroccan, Tunisian, and Algerian descent, and highlights their intra-ethnic differences and the intense emotions felt between them.

Modern Israeli Paradigms of Identity

‘Modern Israeli Paradigms of Identity’ considers how texts inscribe key elements within paradigms of Israeli identity from 1948 onwards and in doing so provides a general discussion of Zionism, the kibbutzim - old and new, and the self-division of diasporic Jews. Also referred to in this chapter is the cult of the ‘New Hebrew’ and the role of the Israeli army in the formation of Israeli identity. Cairns concludes with an exploration of the influence of the Francophone community in inflecting modern Israeli identities and Israel’s perception of France.

Historical Foundations of Israeli Nationhood

This chapter considers texts that inscribe key historical foundations of Israeli nationhood. It looks at significant literary representations of some key constituents in the historical foundations of Israeli nationhood, and includes discussion on Messianism, the early Zionist pioneers, and memories of the Shoah.

The Metaphysics and Poesis of Israel

‘The Metaphysics and Poesis of Israel’ discusses the potency and ambivalence of Jerusalem as an aporetic ideal. It analyses the many connections relating to Israel, including those between the state of Israel and the Arab-Muslim world; Israelis and Palestinians; diasporic Jews and Israelis; religious and secular Israelis; and finally Ashkenazi and Sephardi/Mizrahi Israelis. The chapter also considers the image of Israel as marked by madness as well as the significance of the Hebrew language. Cairns concludes with a consideration on the frontier between Israelis living within internationally recognized Israeli boundaries and those living in the Occupied Territories.

Introduction

While its perspective is mainly literary, this book may be of interest to scholars and students in a wide variety of fields: colonial and postcolonial studies, conflict studies, French/Francophone studies, history, identity studies, Israeli studies, Jewish studies and political science. The subject of the book is rare within some of these disciplines: autobiographies, memoirs and novels by French-language Jewish writers...