When Translation Reshapes Reception: The Curious Case of Zeruya Shalev in German Translation

Zeruya Shalev’s second novel, Love Life (Hayei ahava, 1997) offers a unique example of the potential benefits that arise from cross-cultural translations. Upon its publication, Love Life was initially received quite critically; however, when the novel was translated to German by Miriam Pressler in 2000, it soon gained wide recognition and became a best-seller hit, owing much to Marcel Reich-Ranicki’s unusually warm review on the television program “Das literarische Quartett” (The Literary Quartet).

This talk addresses the various cultural and commercial conditions that set the backdrop for Love Life’s transformation, from a rejected text in its Israeli source culture into a celebrated literary work. While focusing on the reception of a specific literary text, I will discuss both Israeli and German literary spheres, and draw on the contemporary discourse in the field of World Literature. Furthermore, the talk offers a comprehensive discussion on translation and World Literature, demonstrating the unique position of translated literature, and specifically Hebrew literature, in the German literary field.

Subsequently, this talk sheds light not only on the circumstances that had supported, if not determined, Love life’s enthusiastic reception in Germany, but also on the extraordinary effect of this success on Shalev’s position within the Israeli literary system in the two decades that followed.