Imagining the Kibbutz: Visions of Utopia in Literature and Film (Dimyonot: Jews and the Cultural Imagination)

In __Imagining the Kibbutz__, Ranen Omer-Sherman explores the literary and cinematic representations of the socialist experiment that became history’s most successfully sustained communal enterprise. Inspired in part by the kibbutz movement’s recent commemoration of its centennial, this study responds to a significant gap in scholarship. Numerous sociological and economic studies have appeared, but no book-length study has ever addressed the tremendous range of critically imaginative portrayals of the kibbutz. This diachronic study addresses novels, short fiction, memoirs, and cinematic portrayals of the kibbutz by both kibbutz “insiders” (including those born and raised there, as well as those who joined the kibbutz as immigrants or migrants from the city) and “outsiders.” For these artists, the kibbutz is a crucial microcosm for understanding Israeli values and identity. The central drama explored in their works is the monumental tension between the individual and the collective, between individual aspiration and ideological rigor, between self-sacrifice and self-fulfillment. Portraying kibbutz life honestly demands retaining at least two oppositional things in mind at once—the absolute necessity of euphoric dreaming and the mellowing inevitability of disillusionment. As such, these artists’ imaginative witnessing of the fraught relation between the collective and the citizen-soldier is the story of Israel itself. In 'Imagining the Kibbutz', Ranen Omer-Sherman explores the literary and cinematic representations of the socialist experiment that became history’s most successfully sustained communal enterprise. Inspired in part by the kibbutz movement’s recent commemoration of its centennial, this study responds to a significant gap in scholarship. Numerous sociological and economic studies have appeared, but no book-length study has ever addressed the tremendous range of critically imaginative portrayals of the kibbutz. This diachronic study addresses novels, short fiction, memoirs, and cinematic portrayals of the kibbutz by both kibbutz “insiders” (including those born and raised there, as well as those who joined the kibbutz as immigrants or migrants from the city) and “outsiders.” For these artists, the kibbutz is a crucial microcosm for understanding Israeli values and identity. The central drama explored in their works is the monumental tension between the individual and the collective, between individual aspiration and ideological rigor, between self-sacrifice and self-fulfillment. Portraying kibbutz life honestly demands retaining at least two oppositional things in mind at once—the absolute necessity of euphoric dreaming and the mellowing inevitability of disillusionment. As such, these artists’ imaginative witnessing of the fraught relation between the collective and the citizen-soldier is the story of Israel itself.0

In Imagining the Kibbutz, Ranen Omer-Sherman exploresthe literary and cinematic representations of the socialistexperiment that became history's most successfully sustainedcommunal enterprise. Inspired in part by the kibbutz movement'srecent commemoration of its centennial, this study responds to asignificant gap in scholarship. Numerous sociological and economicstudies have appeared, but no book-length study has ever addressedthe tremendous range of critically imaginative portrayals of thekibbutz. This diachronic study addresses novels, short fiction,memoirs, and cinematic portrayals of the kibbutz by both kibbutz"insiders" (including those born and raised there, as well as thosewho joined the kibbutz as immigrants or migrants from the city) and"outsiders." For these artists, the kibbutz is a crucial microcosmfor understanding Israeli values and identity. The central dramaexplored in their works is the monumental tension between theindividual and the collective, between individual aspiration andideological rigor, between self-sacrifice and self-fulfillment.Portraying kibbutz life honestly demands retaining at least twooppositional things in mind at once-the absolute necessity ofeuphoric dreaming and the mellowing inevitability ofdisillusionment. As such, these artists' imaginative witnessing ofthe fraught relation between the collective and the citizen-soldieris the story of Israel itself.

Trepidation And Exultation In Early Kibbutz Fiction -- With A Zealot's Fervor : Individuals Facing The Fissures Of Ideology In Oz, Shaham, And Balaban -- The Kibbutz And Its Others At Midcentury : Palestinian And Mizrahi Interlopers In Utopia -- Late Disillusionments And Village Crimes : The Kibbutz Mysteries Of Batya Gur And Savyon Liebrecht -- From The 1980s To 2010 : Nostalgia And The Revisionist Lens In Kibbutz Film. Ranen Omer-sherman. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 323-333) And Index. contents 8 illustrations 9 Introduction 10 1 Trepidation and Exultation in Early Kibbutz Fiction 32 2 “With a Zealot’s Fervor” 76 3 The Kibbutz and Its Others at Midcentury 149 4 Late Disillusionments and Village Crimes 196 5 From the 1980s to 2010 Nostalgia and the Revisionist Lensin Kibbutz Film 213 Afterword 267 acknowledgments 284 notes 286 bibliography 332 index 343 "An exploration of the literary and cinematic representations of the kibbutz movement in Israel. Authors discussed include Amos Oz, Savyon Liebrecht, Nathan Shaham, Avraham Balaban, Atallah Mansour, Eli Amir, and Batya Gur. Directors discussed include Yitzhak Yeshurun, Akiva Tevet, Dror Shaul, and Jonathan Paz"--Provided by publisher