Book Smart

(This new feature highlights a book recently published by faculty or staff. To submit a tome for consideration, send an e-mail to wisweek@news.wisc.edu. Include author’s name, job title, department, research interests; book’s title, publisher and publication year; plus a 100- to150-word summary. Submissions may be edited for style and brevity.)

Rachel Feldhay Brenner, professor of Hebrew and Semitic studies, “Inextricably Bonded: Israeli Arab and Jewish Writers Re-visioning Culture,” UW Press, 2003.

Brenner finds that, contrary to common perception, Jewish and Arab-Israeli literatures reveal ties rather than differences between the two peoples.

Comparing such Jewish writers as Amos Oz, A.B. Yehoshua, David Grossman and others with Arab Israeli authors including Atallah Mansour, Emile Habiby and Anton Shammas, Brenner discusses the moral and psychological dilemmas that join the camps.

“This book was motivated by my deep concern about Israel, in particular, its relationships with Palestinian Arabs,” she says. “Against the ideology of separation, these writers emphasize the ineluctable connections between these two peoples. Bonded by historical and political circumstances, Jews and Arabs are tied emotionally by the common story of victory and defeat that continues to shape their identities.”

This semester Brenner is teaching two advanced courses on Hebrew literature in Hebrew. “My courses are not directly based on my research, but at the same time there is no question that the research has expanded by understanding of Israeli literature and enriched my teaching,” she says.

Brenner is at work on a monograph on Ruth Almog, a prominent Israeli writer. “Almog’s approach to the Zionist establishment and to the Israeli-Arab conflict allows me to study further the impact of ideologies on the interaction between individual and community,” she says.

Meanwhile, Brenner will discuss “Inextricably Bonded” on Thursday, Dec. 4, at 7 p.m. at Borders Books, 3750 University Ave.

Her talk is part of the series “The World Beyond Our Borders,” sponsored by the UW–Madison International Institute.

— Barbara Wolff