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Discussion published In: Language and Dialogue
Vol. 10:2 (2020) ► pp.271–289

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Discussion article

Amos Oz in A Tale of Love and Darkness

An anachronistic call for a dialogue with the Palestinian other

 | Lebanese American University (Lebanon)
Published online: 4 September 2020
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/ld.00069.elh
Abstract
This paper looks at the call for a dialogue underlying Amos Oz’s autobiographical novel A Tale of Love and Darkness.
As a peace activist,
Oz depicts the Arab Palestinian under Israeli military occupation as a victim and reintroduces himself as a new, unorthodox Jew. In this context, the paper approaches the author-narrator’s message calling for a dialogue with the Palestinian other, albeit through a Chekhovian solution to an existentialist conflict entangling both the Arabs and the Jews over the Question of Palestine. Thanks to the complicity between the Western Colonial Project
and the Zionist plan to create a Jewish homeland in Palestine, most of the Palestinian population was expelled and dispossessed. Oz condemns that complicity and stands out as a Jewish voice for peace. His narrative discourse implies that he is crossing a minefield while trying to help resuscitate the current stale-mate peace process in the Middle East.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Historical background
    • 1.2The literary scene
  • 2.Literature review
  • 3.The story
  • 4.The tale as discourse
    • A Multi-Layered Message through a Single Voice
  • 5.Concluding remarks
  • Notes
  • References
References (22)
References
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2023. The Role of International Research Collaboration and Faculty Related Factors in Publication Citations: Evidence from Lebanon. Economies 11:3 ► pp. 90 ff. DOI logo
Scholz, Norbert
2021. Bibliography of Recent Works 16 FEBRUARY–15 MAY 2021. Journal of Palestine Studies 50:4 ► pp. 118 ff. DOI logo

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