The 60’s revolution in America was headed in part by the psychologist Timothy Leary and the writers Kurt Vonnegut, Phillip Dick, Jack Kerouac and Robert Heinlein. Of these, only Vonnegut had any initial influence on the Israeli cultural scene – and this was only after a characteristic Israeli delay of a decade. He was viewed from the outset as a sharp-tongued cultural critic as well as a gifted writer.
His most outstanding books Slaughterhouse-Five, Cats Cradle and Mother Night were translated into Hebrew and became best sellers as soon as they were printed. At this time the canonic Israeli writers, products of academe and the old ideology, were trying to create a classic Hebrew literature based on the same mildewed literary devices and reground subject matter. This was a genre characterized by nostalgia for the Land of Israel and the Land of Israel that once was, nostalgia for Jerusalem and nostalgia for Jerusalem/ Safed/ Tiberias that once was.
In this mildewed Israeli literary reality, American literature captured the imagination of the Israeli reader. It was infinite in its concentration on the present and of looking to the future with simple and clear values.
The article also contains a pre-60’s description of the impact and acceptance of American literature (Hemingway, Steinbeck, Faulkner etc.) on Israeli culture and cultural perception.
