The Living Dead Becomes a Dead Alive: A Discussion in a Key Motif in Contemporary Israeli Culture and Literature

Abstract

The dead-in-life figure, which is in a state of brain death with a still functioning heart and body is a common motif in contemporary Israeli culture and literature. The article examines this as a liminal literary, socio-politic motif, as well as a ‘symbolic trope’ that undermines the dichotomies of life and death, body and soul, and private and national existence. The article discusses six representations of the motif in Israeli literature in the 2000s and their political significance for Israeli culture. It also presents them as a grotesque incarnation of the Zionist "new man" motif. On the historiographical level, the article examines the dead-in-life motif in contrast to the living-dead symbol and to its variations in its presentation in Hebrew literature. This is followed by a discussion of the various stages in the formulation of the dead-in-life motif itself. First, as characters that contribute to the creation of alternate identities and narratives of otherness in Israeli society; then, through their affinity to the possibility of a mostly feminine anti-war protest; and finally, in two later works, through characters who opt for a vegetative life state, which may undermine the critical aspect of the motif.