ABSTRACT
In both Where the Jackals Howl and Elsewhere, Perhaps, Oz's depiction of the kibbutz, which represents a condensed social context and mirrors intensely the most important issues in Israeli society, questions fundamental assumptions of the Israeli ethos, such as the assumed unity between individuals and the collective and the realization of the founders' Zionist vision. Social critique, like most other elements of the narrative, becomes the means to an existential and metaphysical investigation into archetypal oppositions: suppressed emotions and drives versus social conventions; individuality and the collective; nature versus civilization; the rational and the irrational. Basic thematic and structural principles found in the early works are also present in the later works. This pattern is particularly evident in the novel Menuchah nechonah (1982; A Perfect Peace), which studies and develops the conflicts and the characters of Elsewhere, Perhaps, and in the relation between the novella Har ha'etsah hara'ah (1976; The Hill of Evil Counsel) and Panter ba'martef (1995;
Panther in the Basement). In other cases the relationship between novels is more subtle; in Al tagidi lailah (I994; Don't Call It Night), one of the protagonists, Noa, is analogous to Hanna Gonen, the protagonist and narrator of Micha'el sheli (1968; My Michael). The repeated basic structures underscore similarities and dissimilarities between the various works.
