Cover not available
Discussion published In:
Language and Dialogue
Vol. 10:2 (2020) ► pp.271–289
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)
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.
Keywords: Oz, dialogue, Palestinian, occupation, narrative discourse, Chekhovian
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
Published online: 4 September 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ld.00069.elh
References (22)
References
Arnett, Ronald C. 1986. Communication and Community. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.Google Scholar
Bal, Mieke. 2009. Narratology: Introduction to the Theory of Narrative. 3rd edition. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.Google Scholar
Bernard, Anna. 2013. Rhetoric of Belonging: Nation, Narration, and Israel/Palestine. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Brockmeier, Jens and Denal Carbaugh (eds.). 2001. Autobiography as Narrative Discourse. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Carter, Jimmy. 2006. Palestine: Peace, Not Apartheid. New York: Simon & Schuster.Google Scholar
Chomsky, Noam. 2006. Failed States: the abuse of power and the assault on democracy. New York: Metropolitan Books.Google Scholar
Denzin, Norman K. 1989. Interpretive Biography. Illinois: Sage. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2017. “Critical Qualitative Inquiry.” Research paper. Retrieved from DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Farnsworth, Elizabeth. “Interview with Amos Oz: Coping with Conflict.” Online News Hour. January 23, 2003. Retrieved from [URL]
Genette, Gerard. 1988. Narrative Discourse Revisited. Trans. Jane E. Lewin. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Griffin, Emory A. 1997. A First Look at Communication Theory, 3rd ed. New York: The McGraw- Hill Companies, Inc.Google Scholar
Hogan, Patrick Colm. 2013. Narrative Discourse: Authors and narrators in Literature, Film and Art. Columbus: Ohio State University.Google Scholar
Holloway, Immy and Dawn Freshwater. 2007. Narrative Research in Nursing. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.Google Scholar
Jakobson, Roman. 1988. Selected Writings. Vol. 81. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Kauffmann, Walter. 1970. I and Thou. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.Google Scholar
Manfred, Jahn. 2007. “Narratology: a Guide to the Theory of Narrative”. Retrieved from [URL]
McKenna, Paul. 1999. “Opening Ourselves to God.” Retrieved from [URL]
Nabokov, Vladimir. 1989. Speak Memory: An Autobiography Revisited. New York: Vintage Books.Google Scholar
Nevo, Eshkol. 2014. “Interview with Amos Oz.” Magazine [URL]. 11.02.2014.
Oz, Amos. 2004. A Tale of Love and Darkness [Hebrew Sipour Al Hava Vehoshekh, 1999]. Trans. Nicholas de Lange. London: Vintage.Google Scholar
. 1963. Nomads and Viper [Hebrew Navadim Vatsefa]. Trans. Hillel Halkin. Tel Aviv: Am Oved.Google Scholar
Pappe, Ilan. 2006. The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine. Oxford, UK: Oneworld Publications.Google Scholar
Cited by (3)

Cited by three other publications

Samah, Tawil & Khaddage-Soboh Nada
2024. Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences: A Scoping Review of Uncited Research. Sage Open 14:2 DOI logo
Alamah, Zein, Ibrahim AlSoussy & Ali Fakih
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

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 10 august 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.