Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T22:16:52.659Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Postcolonial Memory, Postmodern Intertextuality: Anton Shammas's Arabesques Revisited

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 October 2020

Yael S. Feldman
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article challenges the interpretive consensus on Anton Shammas's 1986 Hebrew novel Arabesques. A narrow application of theoretical postcolonial constructs (e.g., making the events of 1948 the historical trauma that defines the collective memory of Shammas's narrative) misrepresents the complexity of the text as a whole. Analyzing the limitations of readings based solely on minority-discourse assumptions, the essay offers a counterreading, balancing the postcolonial grid with a postmodernist one. Tracing the novel's screen memories and its most daring (yet well-camouflaged) intertextuality opens up possibilities of representation and redefines the minority-majority relations in the novel. This reading strategy, attentive to the text's “difference from itself,” allows for a nuanced redefinition of the identities constructed in Arabesque and suggests a new explanation for the choice of Hebrew as the language for this remembrance of lost Arab time.

Type
Research Article
Information
PMLA , Volume 114 , Issue 3: Material Evidence , May 1999 , pp. 373 - 389
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1999

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Works Cited

Aizenberg, Edna. “Borges, Postcolonial Precursor.” World Literature Today 66 (1992): 21–26.Google Scholar
Ajami, Fouad. “Through Arab Eyes.” Washington Post 8 May 1988.Google Scholar
Alcalay, Ammiel. “Cultural Exchange.” Jerusalem Post Magazine 12 Dec. 1986: 18.Google Scholar
Appiah, Kwame Anthony. “Is the Post- in Postmodernism the Post- in Postcolonial?” Critical Inquiry 17 (1991): 336–57.Google Scholar
Appiah, Kwame Anthony. “The Multiculturalist Misunderstanding.” New York Review of Books 9 Oct. 1997: 30–36.Google Scholar
Ayalon, David, and Shin'ar, Pessah. Arabic-Hebrew Dictionary for Modern Arabic. 4th ed. Jerusalem: Magness, 1965.Google Scholar
Bakhtin, Mikhail. The Dialogic Imagination: Four Essays. 1981. Ed. Michael Holquist. Trans. Caryl Emerson and Holquist. Austin: U of Texas P, 1987.Google Scholar
Balaban, Avraham. “Anton Shammas: Torn between Two Languages.” World Literature Today 63 (1989): 418–21.Google Scholar
Barker, Francis, Hulme, Peter, and Iversen, Margaret. Introduction. Colonial Discourse / Postcolonial Theory. Ed. Barker, Hulme, and Iversen, . Manchester: Manchester UP, 1994. 1–23.Google Scholar
Ben-Porat, Ziva. [Intertextuality]. Ha sifrut os 34, ns 2 (1985): 170–78.Google Scholar
Bergman, Ronen. [Impeachment at the Top of the Mossad]. Mussaf ha'aretz 3 Jan. 1997: 14–18.Google Scholar
Bhabha, Homi K. The Location of Culture. London: Routledge, 1994.Google Scholar
Bhabha, Homi K. “Postcolonial Criticism.” Redrawing the Boundaries. Ed. Greenblatt, Stephen and Gunn, Giles. New York: MLA, 1992. 437–57. Rpt. as “The Postcolonial and the Postmodern: The Question of Agency.” Bhabha, Location 171–97.Google Scholar
Brenner, Rachel Feldhay. “In Search of Identity: The Israeli Arab Artist in Anton Shammas's Arabesques.” PMLA 108 (1993): 431–45.Google Scholar
Brown, Marshall. The Shape of German Romanticism. Ithaca: Cornell UP, 1979.Google Scholar
Cachia, Pierre. “In a Glass Darkly: The Faintness of Islamic Inspiration in Modern Arabic Literature.” Die Welt des Islams. N.S. Band 23–24. Leiden: Brill, 1984. 26–44.Google Scholar
Cachia, Pierre. Overview of Modern Arabic Literature. Edinburgh: Edinburgh UP, 1990.Google Scholar
Carmi, T., trans. “Isaac.” By Amir Gilboa. The Penguin Book of Hebrew Verse. Ed. Carmi, . New York: Viking-Penguin, 1981. 560.Google Scholar
Deleuze, Gilles, and Guattari, Félix. Kafka: Toward a Minor Literature. Trans. Polan, Dana. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota P, 1986.Google Scholar
During, Simon. “Postmodernism or Post-colonialism Today.” Textual Practice 1 (1987): 32–47.Google Scholar
Elad, Ami. [The Search for Identity: Mapping Arabic Literature in Israel]. Alpayim 11 (1995): 173–84.Google Scholar
Fanon, Frantz. Black Skin, White Masks. Trans. Markmann, Charles. New York: Grove, 1967.Google Scholar
Feldman, Yael S. “In Pursuit of Things Past: David Shahar and the Autobiography in Current Israeli Fiction.” Hebrew Studies 24 (1983): 99–105.Google Scholar
Feldman, Yael S. “Isaac or Oedipus? Jewish Tradition and the Israeli Aqcdah.” Biblical Studies / Cultural Studies: The Third Sheffield Colloquium. Ed. Exum, J. Cheryl and Moore, Stephen D. Sheffield: Academic, 1998. 159–89.Google Scholar
Feldman, Yael S. No Room of Their Own: Gender and Nation in Israeli Women's Fiction. New York: Columbia UP, 1999.Google Scholar
Feldman, Yael S. “Whose Story Is It, Anyway? Ideology and Psychology in the Representation of the Shoah in Israeli Literature.” Probing the Limits of Representation: Nazism and the “Final Solution.” Ed. Saul Friedlander. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1992. 223–39, 380–84.Google Scholar
Gaon, Yehoram. From Toledo to Jerusalem. Ergo, 1990.Google Scholar
Gass, William. “Family and Fable in the Galilee.” New York Times Book Review 17 Apr. 1988: 1+.Google Scholar
Gilboa, Amir. [Isaac]. Al hamishmar 12 Apr. 1950.Google Scholar
Haddawy, Husain, trans. Introduction. The Arabian Nights. New York: Norton, 1990. ix–xxix.Google Scholar
Hall, Stuart. “Response to Saba Mahmood.” Cultural Studies 10 (1996): 12–15.Google Scholar
Hassan, Ihab. The Postmodern Turn. Columbus: Ohio State UP, 1987.Google Scholar
Hever, Hannan. “Hebrew in an Israeli Arab Hand: Six Miniatures on Anton Shammas's Arabesques.” Cultural Critique 7 (1987): 47–76. Rpt. in The Nature and Context of Minority Discourse. Ed. JanMohamed, Abdul R. and Lloyd, David. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1990. 264–93.Google Scholar
Hever, Hannan. “Israeli Literature's Achilles' Heel.” Tikkun Sept.-Oct. 1989: 30–33.Google Scholar
Howe, Irving. “News from Elsewhere.” New York Review of Books 14 Apr. 1988: 5.Google Scholar
Hutcheon, Linda. ‘“Circling the Downspout of Empire’: Post-colonialism and Postmodernism.” Ariel 20.4 (1989): 149–75.Google Scholar
Hutcheon, Linda. A Poetics of Postmodernism: History, Theory, Fiction. New York: Routledge, 1988.Google Scholar
al-Id, Yumna. [Narrative Techniques in Fiction according to Structuralist Method]. Beirut: al-Farabi, 1990.Google Scholar
Iser, Wolfgang. The Implied Reader. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1974.Google Scholar
Jacobson, David C. Modern Midrash. Albany: State U of New York P, 1987.Google Scholar
JanMohamed, Abdul R. “The Economy of Manichean Allegory: The Function of Racial Difference in Colonialist Literature.” Race, Writing, and Difference. Ed. Gates, Henry Louis Jr. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1986. 78–106.Google Scholar
Kartun-Blum, Ruth. ‘“Where Does the Wood in My Hand Come From?‘: The Binding of Isaac in Modern Hebrew Poetry.” Prooftexts 8 (1988): 293–310.Google Scholar
Khalaf, Samir. “Communal Conflict in Nineteenth-Century Lebanon.” Christians and Jews in the Ottoman Empire: The Functioning of a Plural Society. Ed. Braude, Benjamin and Lewis, Bernard. Vol. 1. New York: Holmes, 1982. 107–34.Google Scholar
Laor, Dan. [The Fassutans: An Unfinished Story]. Ha'aretz 30 May 1986: 6–7.Google Scholar
Lotan, Yael. [Toward an Israeli Literature]. Al hamishmar 7 Apr. 1986: 15–18. Trans. as “Towards an Israeli Literature.” Modern Hebrew Literature 13. 1–2 (1987): 41–44.Google Scholar
Lyotard, Jean-François. The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge. Trans. Bennington, Geoff and Massumi, Brian. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota P, 1984.Google Scholar
Mahmood, Saba. “Cultural Studies and Ethnic Absolutism: Comments on Stuart Hall's ‘Culture, Community, Nation.‘” Cultural Studies 10 (1996): 1–11.Google Scholar
McClintock, Anne. “The Angel of Progress: Pitfalls of the Term ‘Postcolonialism.‘” Colonial Discourse / Postcolonial Theory. Ed. Barker, Francis, Hulme, Peter, and Iversen, Margaret. Manchester: Manchester UP, 1994. 253–66.Google Scholar
McHale, Brian. Postmodernist Fiction. New York: Routledge, 1987.Google Scholar
McHale, Brian. “Seizing the Means of Representation.” American Book Review Jan.-Feb. 1990: 4+.Google Scholar
Miron, Dan. [The Old Bitterness Is Still Burning: On Anton Shammas's “Arabesques”]. Ha'olam haze 9 July 1986: 26.Google Scholar
Natoli, Joseph, and Hutcheon, Linda. “Reading a Postmodern Reader.” Introduction. A Postmodern Reader. Ed. Natoli and Hutcheon. Ithaca: Cornell UP, 1993. vii–xiv.Google Scholar
Pérez Firmat, Gustavo. Life on the Hyphen: The Cuban-American Way. Austin: U of Texas P, 1994.Google Scholar
Pinault, D. “Alf layla wa-layla.” Encyclopedia of Arabic Literature. Ed. Meisami, Julie Scott and Starkey, Paul. Vol. 1. New York: Routledge, 1998. 69–77.Google Scholar
Porter, Dennis. “Orientalism and Its Problems.” Colonial Discourse and Post-colonial Theory: A Reader. Ed. Williams, Patrick and Chrisman, Laura. New York: Columbia UP, 1994. 150–61.Google Scholar
Ramras-Rauch, Gila. The Arab in Israeli Literature. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1989.Google Scholar
Riffaterre, Michael. Fictional Truth. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1990.Google Scholar
Riffaterre, Michael. Semiotics of Poetry. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1978.Google Scholar
Sacks, Arie. Commentary. The Modern Hebrew Poem Itself. Ed. Burnshaw, S. Carmi, T., and Spicehandler, E. 2nd ed. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1983. 136–38.Google Scholar
Said, Edward. “The One-State Solution.” New York Times Magazine 10 Jan. 1999: 36–39.Google Scholar
Shaked, Gershon. “The Arab in Israeli Fiction.” Modern Hebrew Literature ns 3 (1989): 17–20.Google Scholar
Shammas, Anton. [Anton Shammas—Arabesques]. Interview with Dalya Amit. Proza May-June 1988: 73–79.Google Scholar
Shammas, Anton. [Arabesques]. Tel Aviv: Am Oved, 1986.Google Scholar
Shammas, Anton. Arabesques. Trans. Eden, Vivian. New York: Viking, 1988.Google Scholar
Shammas, Anton. [The Fault of the Babushka]. Politika Feb.-Mar. 1986: 44–45.Google Scholar
Shammas, Anton. [The Enchantments on the Other Side of the Fence]. Interview with Sh. Shifra. Davar 21 June 1974.Google Scholar
Shammas, Anton. [A Good Israeli]. Interview with Naomi Aviv. Kol ha'ir 4 Apr. 1986: 36–39.Google Scholar
Shammas, Anton. [Hardcover: Poems]. Tel Aviv: Sifriat Poalim, 1974.Google Scholar
Shammas, Anton. [Happy New Year to the Jews]. Kol ha'ir 6 Sept. 1991.Google Scholar
Shapira, Anita. Land and Power: The Zionist Resort to Force, 1881–1948. Trans. Templer, William. New York: Oxford UP, 1992. Trans. of . Tel Aviv: Am Oved, 1992.Google Scholar
Shohat, Ella. “Notes on the Postcolonial.” Social Text 32–33 (1992): 99–113.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Snir, Reuven. ‘“Hebrew as the Language of Grace’: Arab-Palestinian Writers in Hebrew.” Prooftexts 15 (1995): 163–84.Google Scholar
Spiegel, Shalom. The Last Trial: On the Legends and Lore of the Command to Abraham to Offer Issue as a Sacrifice: The Akedah. Trans. Goldin, Judah. New York: Schocken, 1969.Google Scholar
Swedenburg, Ted. Memories of Revolt: The 1936–1939 Rebellion and the Palestinian National Past. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota P, 1995.Google Scholar
Tiffin, Helen. “Post-colonialism, Post-modernism and the Rehabilitation of Post-colonial History.” Journal of Commonwealth Literature 23.1 (1988): 169–81.Google Scholar
Tompkins, Jane P., ed. Reader Response Criticism. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1980.Google Scholar
Yizhar, S. [The Prisoner]. [Four Stories]. Tel Aviv: Sifriat Poalim, 1961. 41–55.Google Scholar