Guests from the academic world, friends, and family gathered this week at the Consul General Roey Gilad & Mrs. Nitza Gilad's residence, to celebrate the new book by Assistant Professor Rachel Harris: “An Ideological Death: Suicide in Israeli Literature”, edited by Professor Phyllis Lassner.
Rachel Harris is Assistant Professor of Israeli Literature and Culture in Comparative & World Literature and the Program in Jewish Culture & Society at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
The book explores the symbolic significance of suicide as a trope in Israeli literature. Considering depictions of suicide in light of cultural studies, this work argues that suicide has less to do with suicidal inclination (that of the author, or the protagonist) and more to do with the value accorded to cultural and national institutions in Israeli society, through which the image of suicide can be used to support or challenge the accepted political and social discourse. Using canonical literary works, each chapter explores an aspect of the hegemonic national narratives that lie at the center of Israeli society; the sabra soldier, the army, the historical narrative, the creation of Tel Aviv and the role of women as mothers.
Prof. Harris' next book will be "Warriors, Witches, Whores: Women in Israeli Cinema".