Overview

This collection of essays investigates both the elements that locate Israeli speculative fiction in relation to world speculative literature, and the features that render it unique. For decades, Israeli literary culture seemed to focus almost entirely on realistic genres; however, a closer examination reveals not only the prevalence of speculative literature in the country, but also its significance in shaping both enduring and emerging ideas about Israeli identities. Recognizing the significance of speculative literature in the reconfiguration of modern Israeli identities will expand and deepen conversations about the wider Israeli culture. The book contains essays about temporality and spatiality, and explorations of work by seminal authors such as Etgar Keret and Orly Castel-Bloom, as well as Assaf Gavron, Shimon Adaf, Ishay Sarid, and Lavie Tidhar. It also includes unique perspectives on Palestinian Israeli speculative fiction and Israeli comics. This volume invites readers to enter conversations about Israeli culture that go beyond discourses about what is real, and encounter, instead, discussions about how Israelis use speculative fiction to imagine what might be.

Full Product Details

Author:   Elana Gomel ,  Vered Weiss
Publisher:   Liverpool University Press
Imprint:   Liverpool University Press
Volume:   91
ISBN:  

9781805966821

ISBN 10:   1805966820
Pages:   288
Publication Date:   28 March 2026
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Forthcoming
Availability:   Not yet available  
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Table of Contents

Introduction Elana Gomel and Vered Weiss Part 1. General – Theory Limbotopia: The “New Present” and the Literary Imagination Elana Gomel and Vered Karti Shemtov What is “Israeli” about Israeli Speculative Fiction? Emanuel Lottem and Sheldon Teitelbaum Science Fiction and Fantasy in Israeli Literature Lynn Levanon Haunting Homelands: Displacement and Resistance in Palestinian Speculative Fiction and Osama Al-Muslim’s Orchids of Arabistan Nardeen Dow Mauvaises-lettres: The New Historical Imagination in Israeli Speculative Fiction Oded Nir Hebrew Speculative Fiction in English Translation Rachel Cordasco Part 2. Specific Examples Bialik and the Gothic: The Hebrew National Poet of Decline and Resurrection Vered Weiss Dust Soaked: Water and Mutual Obligation in Assaf Gavron’s SF Keren Omry “What is Yet to Come Already Slashes the Air”: Temporal Space in Shimon Adaf’s Rose of Judea Trilogy Rina Jean Baroukh “Reaching into the clear blue of the Mediterranean Sea”: Lavie Tidhar’s Israeli Speculative Fictions Dessie Elbar The Redemption Compulsion: Utopian Messianism and Trauma in the Dystopian Novel The Third Yossi Mendelovich A Mischievous Child, a War Hero, and a Friendly Spy: The Ideological Transfiguration of the Sabra in Hebrew Comics from 1935 to 1974 Ben Baruch Blich

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Author Information

Elana Gomel is an Associate Professor at the Department of English and American Studies at Tel-Aviv University and an award-winning fiction writer with numerous short stories, novellas and five novels. Vered Weiss is Assistant Professor at The Center for Integrative Studies in the Arts and Humanities, and is core faculty member of The Michael and Elaine Serling Institute for Jewish Studies and Modern Israel at Michigan State University.

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