Levi Aryeh Arieli’s “In The Light of Venus” and the Political Dimension of Hebrew Modernist Fiction

• In Event: History and Politics in Modern Hebrew Fiction

Abstract

In his study LITERARY PASSPORTS, Shachar Pinsker points out that many early twentieth century Hebrew fictional works focus on erotic discontent and typically employ passivity, ‘effeminization,’ fetishism, and erotic entanglements to portray their male protagonists. Rather than viewing these representations as uniquely Jewish, Pinsker shows how similar representations had achieved a prominent place within turn-of-the-century European literary texts and gradually became an important component of an emerging transnational modernist tradition. While appreciating Pinsker’s effort to chart Hebrew modernism’s emergence, this paper challenges his claim that the overturning of traditional gender roles and depiction of divergent forms of sexual desire in early twenty century Hebrew fiction was almost exclusively an aesthetic endeavor unrelated to efforts to “’solve’ or bring into relief” problems besetting the Jewish people. Consequently it will analyze Levi Aryeh Arieli’s 1911 novella “In the Light of Venus,” used by Pinsker to advance his argument, to show how Hebrew writers employed gender and sexuality in their fiction in support of national aims. Pinsker notes that Arieli structures the novella as a frame story, but he neglects to discuss the narrative frame that contextualizes Ya’akov Perlgold’s narrative of the period just prior to his desertion from the Russian military. This narrative frame has Perlgold telling his story to fellow Palestinian Jewish fieldworkers as they rest prior to return to the nearby Jewish colony at the end of the workday, and Perlgold’s narrative must be understood in relationship to the question of Palestinian Jewish settlement’s viability raised by other workers. The text purposely contrasts Diasporic Jewish life with Palestinian Jewish life to argue for the latter’s superiority. Traumatic experiences that result from Perlgold’s efforts to distance himself from his Jewish past and gain acceptance in Russian society initially paralyze him. Yet, when these traumatic issues reemerge when Perlgold is reassigned, his erotic and thanatic impulses nearly overwhelm him. In contrast, Palestine, despite the physical difficulties of life there, offers Perlgold a warm homosocial environment where he can work through his experience and move to greater mental health. Through the frame story’s integration into textual analysis the text’s political message quickly emerges.

author

• Philip Hollander, University of Wisconsin - Madison