(Yad Ben-Zvi Press, 2022, ISBN: 978-965-217-449-9, 231 Pages, Hebrew)

HEBRAIZING SHERLOCK HOLMES: A LITERARY AND IDEOLOGICAL AFFAIR FROM THE BRITISH MANDATE PERIOD

Hebraizing Sherlock Holmes is the story of the first translations of Arthur Conan-Doyle’s detective stories into Hebrew, and of the cultural and ideological import of the famous detective’s character to Eretz-Israel, during the British Mandate period. This unique story is presented alongside the ideological background of the creation of the first translations; The surprising controversy that often accompanied their appearance; and the various ways in which Holmes` character was used in an ideological or political context, within the local Jewish community. The literary, cultural and ideological saga unfolded in the book, traces the main characters who were involved in it, including translators, editors, journalists, critics, playwrights and publishers. It is also a lens, through which some of the fundamental issues that the Jewish cultural world debated in those years are presented: What would be the best way to create a national Hebrew literature? What should be included in it or left outside? What is the status of translated Hebrew literature? Moreover is there a difference, in this context, between children’s literature and adult literature? The tracing of how translations of these original English stories were created, distributed and received, also reveals the complex attitude of the local Jewish community to English literature and culture in general, at a time when relations between the Jews and the British authorities were becoming tense and complex