Abstract

This dissertation traces the development of Jewish literature in Spanish America from its inception in 1910 to 1990, and how the concept of a Jewish homeland is represented in selected texts by Jewish-Spanish American writers. It also examines the impact of Zionism and, subsequently, of the 1948 establishment of the State of Israel on the latter years of this literature, specifically, on the construction of national and cultural identity. ;Two major periods are identified in the development of Jewish writing in Spanish America, using the founding of the State of Israel as the catalyst for thematic, linguistic and formal changes in this literature. The first period covers from 1910 until 1948, and is characterized by a desire for national integration without the risk of forfeiting its Jewish cultural identity, and a determination to preserve the dream of a Jewish homeland in Eretz Israel as a unifying element in communal identity and as an alternative solution to the increasing problem of anti-Semitism. The second period, 1948 until 1990, is marked by the development of Jewish writing within national literatures; a writing that, having rejected the claim of the State of Israel as the exclusive homeland of Diaspora Jewry, sought a balance between Jewish and national identities by constantly redefining both components of the equation of identity. A third period is identified as an emerging force in Jewish writing, for it manifests a move towards aterritorialization, that is, towards the periphery of national, cultural, ethnic, and religious boundaries. ;Finally, this dissertation analyzes the different strategies used by post-1948 Jewish writers in Spanish America to deal with the issue of a bicultural identity, and examines how their texts mediate between differences and anxieties created by diverse languages, cultures, and traditions that coexist in their communities and within themselves