Utopian imagination in the Zionist movement: the case of ‘Jerusalem Rebuilt’

Abstract

This article examines the last utopian novel of early Zionist thought and literature. The utopia Jerusalem Rebuilt was written after the First World War and published in the mid-1920s by Boris Schatz. This work combined artistic utopian vision and Jewish nationalism, and it reflected the early Zionist vision at the turn of the twentieth century. This article discusses Schatz’s work against the backdrop of Zionist utopian literature that was written between the 1880 s and the end of the First World War. The article suggests that a careful reading of early utopian Zionist literature points to the clear connection between the revolutionary Zionist vision and pre-modern Jewish cultural heritage. Despite the revolutionary character of Zionism, the early utopian literature points to the evolutionary and cultural dimensions of Jewish nationalism.