On Zionist Literature

<p>Translated into English for the first time after its publication in 1967 Ghassan Kanafani's <em>On Zionist Literature</em> makes an incisive analysis of the literary fiction written in support of the Zionist colonization of Palestine.</p><p>Interweaving his literary criticism of works by George Eliot Arthur Koestler and many others with a historical materialist narrative Kanafani identifies the political intent and ideology of Zionist literature demonstrating how the myths used to justify the Zionist-imperialist domination of Palestine first emerged and were repeatedly propagated in popular literary works in order to generate support for Zionism and shape the Western public's understanding of it.</p><p>The new preface by Anni Kanafani and an introduction by Steven Salaita place <em>On Zionist Literature</em> in its broader historical context and make a compelling case for its ongoing significance more than five decades since its original publication illustrating the extent to which Kanafani was a searing and incisive critic at once generous in his understanding of emotion and form and unsparing in his assessment of politics and myth. </p>