A postcolonial reading of the representation of Israel as a paradise in Forest Dark by the Jewish-American author Nicole Krauss

Abstract

This thesis combines postcolonial and Jewish studies based on the colonial past and present of Israel by examining how the paradise motif functions in connection to the presentation of Israel in the Jewish-American novel Forest Dark by Nicole Krauss. Exodus, a monumental Jewish-American novel, serves as the cultural context in the analysis of Forest Dark. First, the novel debunks the Zionist ideal by presenting Kafka as an anti-Zionist. Second, the paradisical representation of Israel is constantly punctured by references to the aggressive acts against innocent Palestinians. Third, Krauss refutes the binary worldview in Exodus by combining the conservative voice of an older Jewish-American and the critical voice of the young fictional Krauss. Moreover, Forest Dark taps into the paradoxical site of paradise through the constant alteration between oppositional presentations of Israel. Consequently, the function of the paradise motif in Forest Dark is to criticise the colonial nature of Israel.

Date of Award	Aug 2021
Original language	English
Supervisor	Elisabeth Bekers (Promotor) & Janine Hauthal (Promotor)