Diasporism as a perverse opposite of zionism in Philip Roth’s novel Operation Shylock

The article discusses the purpose and the literary devices Philip Roth adopted to present the complicated problem of Jewish identity in the context of the raison d'être of the State of Israel as a homeland of Jews. Introducing himself as a fictitious character and the narrator, the author also gives voice to other figures who criticize not only the policies of Israel but also its existence, whereby the narration seems polyphonic. One of the characters is “false Philip Roth”, a man with mental problems, who preaches the idea of Diasporism, which advocates the return of the Ashkenazi Jews from Israel to the countries of their origins, including Poland. “Real Philip Roth”, however, talking to his old Palestinian acquaintance, George Ziad, who takes him for the champion of Diasporism, learns the Arab’s point of view. In the meantime the narrator becomes entangled in an operation of the Israeli secret service. Roth’s narrative leaves little illusion that the idea of Diasporism could be treated seriously, even though it appears logical: leaving Northern Europe the Jewish population actually fulfilled the plan of Hitler and European anti-Semites, simultaneously imposing their presence on the Arab population of Palestine. The literary perverse game of characters, as well as the role of a jester the author assumes, are literary tricks used in order to present the author’s own doubts and dilemmas, quite typical of Philip Roth, who throughout his literary career seems to have fought for the right to his own interpretation of his Jewish identity.STEFAN KUBIAK – mgr, doktorant i nauczyciel na Wydziale Filologicznym Uniwersytetu w Białymstoku, gdzie prowadzi zajęcia z praktycznego pisania w języku angielskim i akademickim. Dyplom magistra historii uzyskał w 1991 roku na Uniwersytecie Łódzkim, a magistra języka angielskiego na Uniwersytecie w Białymstoku w 2001 roku. Pracując w kilku szkołach i instytucjach edukacyjnych, rozpoczął współpracę z Uniwersytetem w Białymstoku w 2007 roku.Uniwersytet w BiałymstokuBooth W.C., The Company We Keep: An Ethics of Fiction, Berkeley, 1988.Booth W.C., The Rhetoric of Fiction, Chicago 1975.Cooper A., Philip Roth and the Jews, Albany 1996.Safer E. B., The Double, Comic Irony, and Postmodernism in Philip Roth's Operation Shylock, „MELUS”, Vol. 21, No. 4, 1996.Gilman S.L., Jewish Self-Hatred: Anti-Semitism and the Hidden Langauge of the Jews, Baltimore 1990.Lehmann S., Exodus and Homeland: The Representation of Israel in Saul Bellow’s „To Jerusalem and Back” and Philip Roth’s „Operation Shylock”, „Religion & Literature”, Vol. 30, No 3, 1998.Omer-Sherman R., Diaspora and Zionism in Jewish American Literature: Lazarus, Syrkin, Reznikoff, and Roth, Hanover 2002.Roth P., Fakty. Autobiografia pisarza, przeł. J. Kozak, Warszawa 2011.Roth P., Operacja Shylock, przeł. G. Siwek, Warszawa 1996.Roth P., Oszustwo, przeł. J. Jarniewicz, Warszawa 2007.Roth P., Przeciwżycie, przeł. Z. Zinserling, Warszawa 1994.Roth P., Spisek przeciwko Ameryce, przeł. J. Kozak, Warszawa 2007.Sand S., The Invention of the Jewish People, przełożył na angielski Yael Yotan, London-New York 2009.Shostak D., The Diaspora Jew and the „Instinct for Impersonation”: Philip Roth's „Operation Shylock”, „Contemporary Literature”, Vol. 38, No. 4, 1997.30932