Description:
1. This book offers a microhistory of Israeli thought through the work of Israel Zarchi. Zarchi's political attachments offer a glimpse of Zionist utopia and its many shortfalls.
2. Nitzan Lebovic is an established scholar of Jewish history and Jewish intellectual history. He is known for his work in critical theory and philosophy, especially through his engagement with affect studies.
3. Affect studies, especially in philosophy and more broadly in Jewish thought, are very popular in academia right now.
Review Quotes:
"A splendid text, learned and diligent, but not without resourcefulness of language. It's a scholarly work that is written like a melancholic novella."--Galili Shahar, Haaretz
"A truly original work that engages the pervasive condition of melancholy facing many progressive and left-wing artists, thinkers, scholars, and political actors. The short life of Israel Zarchi becomes the vehicle by which Nitzan Lebovic interrogates the demands, implications, and surprising virtues of the melancholic in the present."--Eugene Sheppard, author of Leo Strauss and the Politics of Exile: The Making of a Political Philosopher
"Through Lebovic's gripping account we gain a sense of intimacy and a deep understanding of the Zarchi the man and Zarchi the author. ... The work is fundamentally and thoroughly interdisciplinary, moving deftly between intellectual history, literary studies, political philosophy, and psychoanalysis, to name the most important coordinates on Lebovic's map."--Na'ama Rokem, author of Prosaic Conditions: Heinrich Heine and the Spaces of Zionist Literature
"Lebovic reveals a great deal about the work of Zarchi and the melancholic mindset of an entire generation of contemporary Israelis. . . . Highly recommended."--Choice
"Lebovic's main line of argumentation in the book is original and interesting. The monograph is a compelling contribution to the literary history of Hebrew prose. . . . The monograph . . . subtly unearths a voice in Hebrew literature that resonates with Israeli left-winged politics while differing from its major standpoints."--Political Theology
"While Zarchi's sizable oeuvre garnered critical attention, no systematic study of his life and work exists. Nitzan Lebovic's Zionism and Melancholy: The Short Life of Israel Zarchi helps fill this gap, and through an exploration of Zarchi's archive and interviews with family members, it presents previously unknown information about Zarchi's life and work. Lebovic's book is noteworthy for this reason alone."--Reading Religion