Last Resistance

Contents: Preface. Introduction. I. Zionism inside-out: 1. The last resistance. 2. Displacement in Zion. 3. Mass psychology. 4. The hidden life of Vladimir Jabotinsky. 5. David Grossman\'s Dilemma. 6. Deadly embrace. II. After disaster: 7. The body of evil: Arendt, Coetzee and 9/11. 8. Freud and the people, or Freud goes to Abu Ghraib. 9. On being Nadine Gordimer. 10. Specimen Days: On Michael Cunningham and Walt Whitman. III. Men and women in dark times: 11. Continuing the dialogue--on Edward Said. 12. Born Jewish--on Marcel Liebman. 13. All Men are Mortal--On Simone de Beauvoir. 14. Holocaust premises: political implications of the traumatic frame--with Judith Butler. 15. On Gillian Rose. Index.

"In The Last Resistance, Jacqueline Rose explores the power of writing to create and transform our political lives. In particular, Rose examines the role of literature in the Zionist imagination: here, literature is presented as a unique form of dissidence, with the power to expose the unconscious of nations, and often proposing radical alternatives to their dominant pathways and beliefs. While Israel-Palestine is the repeated focus, The Last Resistance also turns to post-Apartheid South Africa, to American national fantasy post 9/11, and to key moments for the understanding of Jewish culture and memory. Rose also underscores the importance of psychoanalysis, both historically in relation to the unfolding of world events, and as a tool of political understanding. Examining topics ranging from David Grossman, through W.G. Sebald, Freud, Nadine Gordimer, the concept of evil, and suicide bombers, The Last Resistance offers a unique way of responding to the crises of the times."