“It’s Doubtful...It Isn’t Even Logical, It Can’t Be Proved, and It’s Crazy”: Gaslighting, Suspicion, and Insinuations in the Early Works of Amos Oz

Abstract: This article examines questions of literary gaslighting, and the ways in which the reader’s point of view is tailored and influenced by literary devices and by questions of suspicion and belief in relation to gendered literary positions. It does so by reading two of Amos Oz’s very famous and widely read short stories: “Nomad and Viper” and “Where the Jackals Howl,” which are traditionally read as allowing self-critique of the kibbutz and Israeli masculinity. However, my article offers a reading that asks who is being sacrificed for this critique; who are the scapegoats of the stories. I argue that the arousal of suspicion and gaslighting are key tools in Oz’s writing that lie at the core of the critical perspective itself, and that they allow some excuse, so to speak, demanding the readers’ doubt of the women characters’ reliability, marking them as mentally unstable, and demanding that readers disbelieve women’s testimonies. The first part presents and analyzes the narratological constructions in the stories and how they raise reader suspicions, and toward whom they are aimed. The second part shows how certain topics are more susceptible to the atmosphere of gaslighting and suspicion, especially anything that relates to sexuality. Literary techniques often taint character testimonies and foster suspicion toward minority groups, ultimately appearing to necessitate a confrontation between them. The third part discusses the impact of this stance outside the text, on the now suspicious readers themselves, and the gaslighting experienced by them—especially by contemporary readers.

Duke Scholars

Author Reut Israela Ben-yaakov