Gaarder's Christmas Mystery -- anti-semitic??

[ereks mom]

The Christmas Mystery by Jostein Gaarder was suggested to me as a good choice for an Advent story book for teens. I googled the title, looking for a review of the book, and I ran across one that said, "...some will be dismayed by a repeated pro-Palestine, anti-Israel theme that undercuts the novel's larger message of universal tolerance and harmony." I researched further, and found that there is some controversy associated with the author because of an op-ed piece he wrote in 2006 . Now, I do NOT want to start an argument here, but I would like to ask you, if you have actually read The Christmas Mystery, did you find it to be anti-semitic?

[Kristiana]

:lurk5:

[mooooom]

but I am Jewish, and I don't remember finding anything offensive. Guess I'll have to go read it again. I'm pretty sure that you can find offensiveness in anything if you try hard enough though.

[ereks mom]

...I am Jewish, and I don't remember finding anything offensive.

 

I'm glad to hear this. Thanks for your comments. :001_smile:

 

I'm pretty sure that you can find offensiveness in anything if you try hard enough though.

 

So true!

[K in MI]

I don't remember anything offensive. Dh has read this to the family for the past 6 or 7 years, and I don't remember anything offensive; I guess I'll listen more carefully this year.

[Laurie in Life]

I think I may have been the one who suggested it to you. I have read it several times over the past few years and I don't ever recall any anti-Semitic tone to it at all.

 

HTH

[mom2abcd]

I've read it once and didn't notice that. It does get a little confusing because of the time travel thing and by reading it in bits and pieces, maybe we missed something.

 

But yeah-- you can't trust everything you read on the internet;o)

[lmrich]

I never noticed anything. I am starting it on Wed. and will be on the look out for it. Honestly, the kids loved the book so much and begged to hear the next chapter a day early.

[Ester Maria]

I have read Gaarder's op-ed. As a political stance (that I don't necessarily agree with...), it doesn't promote national hatred in my opinion - not any more than an article against certain things in Italian society would be promoting national hatred towards Italians. It's an example of anti-israelism that somebody tried reading antisemitism into. Those are two different things. One is opposing specific actions and policies of a country, or even thinking that a country in its present state is bad and evil (as Gaarder does, comparing it to some regimes), the other one is national hatred, which Gaarder doesn't call for.

 

Even if there was something very anti-Israeli in Gaarder's works, unless they're calling for national hatred or stereotype "the Jew" as such, that's not antisemitism. Otherwise, you might wish to quit reading Dostoevsky, because he wasn't really fond of Poles either. Not that it terribly matters for the ultimate point of his works. Same with Gaarder - read him if you see some literary value in what you're reading, don't censor him because of political views which may, after all, not be very present in his works anyway (most people don't notice anything).

 

Of course, if you're insecure and paranoid, you can always read something into something else. I get frustrated with how often that's the case with "antisemitism" - such a loose and overly free application of the term wears it out and loses some crucial distinctions needed to mark a real and existing phenomenon of actual antisemitism. I've personally not noticed something inherently antisemitic in Gaarder, even if he has very strong political opinions about some Israeli matters. Which is, after all, his right to have them and state them, no matter how much many will disagree with him or point out his faults to him.

 

I'm Jewish, by the way. ;)

[2cents]

:lurk5:

The Christmas Mystery by Jostein Gaarder was suggested to me as a good choice for an Advent story book for teens. I googled the title, looking for a review of the book, and I ran across one that said, "...some will be dismayed by a repeated pro-Palestine, anti-Israel theme that undercuts the novel's larger message of universal tolerance and harmony." I researched further, and found that there is some controversy associated with the author because of an op-ed piece he wrote in 2006 . Now, I do NOT want to start an argument here, but I would like to ask you, if you have actually read The Christmas Mystery, did you find it to be anti-semitic?