The Reception of Contemporary Israeli Literature in China: The Case of Etgar Keret

Speakers: Danielle Gurevitch and Xiu Gao

The Chinese term 犹太人 (you tai ren) literally means “Jewish people,” yet it has another derogatory connotation, as the first character 犹(you) is composed with the radical 犭(quan) which has the meaning of “dog- or monkey-like animals.” Words with the same radical were commonly used by the Chinese feudal ruling class to signify the superiority of the Han dynasty over all other ethnic groups, and was regularly used to label foreign nations and minorities generally, not Jews specifically. In fact, there has never been any form of autochthonous racial discrimination in China’s history against Jewish people specifically.

This talk aims to analyze the reception of Jewish and Israeli literature in China today, principally through a case study assessing the popularity of Etgar Keret’s writings. It will demonstrate a positive approach to contemporary Israeli literature in mainland Chinese universities and assess the reasons for it. In Western academic circles, especially in the United States and Europe, there has been a steady increase in discrimination against Jewish and/or Israeli scholarship, supported by traditional anti-Semitic conspiracy tropes. However, over the last ten years, Chinese academia, encouraged by government policy supporting translation and publication of Israeli literature, has consistently expanded the opportunities for studying Israeli literature. It is remarkable that most of Keret’s short stories have been translated into Chinese over the past eight years, four in 2020 alone, suggesting that his writings are garnering growing attention in China. The reasons for this growing popularity will be examined by the reviews and statistics reported of the new generation of Chinese students (as well as general readers) in the mainland, from which can be learned that they are seeking alternative viewpoints about life. For them, the government’s policies allow them the opportunity to read a diverse range of literary works, and possibly discover in Israeli literature effective mediums for developing creative thinking and fresh ways to express their impressions and thoughts about life.