It is no surprise that the one particular event that seems to most greatly affect young adult literature in Israel is that of the Holocaust. As a nation founded for the Jewish people, Israel itself was built as a result of the horrible happenings of the Holocaust. One particular author, known by his pen-name Ka-Tzetnik, has taken his own experiences as a survivor of the Holocaust and transformed them into young adult texts centering on them. Ka-Tzetnik, known by his real name as Yechiel Feiner, wrote almost completely of the Auschwitz concentration camp. He wrote in the form of chronicles of fiction, all or most depicting life experience in concentration camps, often providing horrific description of cruelty during that time through his frank appraisal of the Holocaust and the horrors that took place.
In his article, “Kitsch and Sadism in K-Tzetnik’s Other Planet: Israeli Youth Imagine the Holocaust,” Omer Bartov explores in what ways this event is represented in novels often read by young adults and delves into the reasons behind why youth might want to read such horrific examples of historic fiction. Bartov states, “But the urge of youth to be told the truth about facts of life that adults seem to be hiding from them, their simultaneous curiosity about and fascination with matters of sex and violence, make them into a particularly receptive audience for representations of what could be called ‘explicit sincerity’” (Bartov 47). When questioning the urge for adolescents to read novels that are brutally honest in their depiction of horrid occurrences, Bartov is able to explain the reasoning in such a way that highlights the exploratory nature of adolescents. Essentially, what young adults enjoy so much in Ka-Tzetnik’s books are his truthful and frank way of describing the negative aspects of life as opposed to sheltering his readers from the truth.
Overall, Bartov’s reasoning for why youth are often open to reading such frank stories can be true in more regards than just Ka-Tzetnik’s stories. Popular themes within the category of young adult literature a whole include topics such as identity struggles, seeking truth, and coming-of-age. Ka-Tzetnik’s stories of truthful depictions of the Holocaust are indicative of such themes, and according to Bartov’s theory, Israeli youth might be drawn to his work because they feel it is indicative of the truth they have may have been sheltered from and a way in which they can seek aspects of their own identity as Jewish individual.
Works Cited
Bartov, Omer. “Kitsch and Sadism in Ka-Tzenik’s Other Planet: Israeli Youth Imagine the Holocaust,” Jewish Social Studies, New Series, Vol.3 No.2 (Winter 1997), pp.42-76. Published by Indiana University Press.