Memory's Journey in Mizrakhi Narratives: Autobiography and Family History

Lital Levy

Mizrakhi (Middle Eastern Jewish) autobiographies and autobiographical fiction produced in Israel reflect a sense of rupture with the traditional diasporic culture associated with the generation of the narrator's parents. At the same time, the narrators' journey of memory back to the family's home acts as a point of departure for constructing the self. The journey of memory back through time is thus the vehicle for creative forward movement, towards a more integrated identity. In light of the effaced distinction between "self" and "family" as subject, Mizrakhi first-person narrative can be read as the successor to an uprooted oral tradition of family-history telling. Mizrakhi narratives also challenge the normative Zionist discourse surrounding the "ingathering of the exiles," and question Western concepts of autobiographical theory centered around the individual "self."

« Back