Novel/nation: counter-narrative fiction, Israel-Palestine, and the politics of form

Abstract Under what conditions can works of fiction serve counter-narrative aims? If the reified claims of a national narrative purport to be grounded in fact, can they be successfully challenged or dismantled by works of admittedly imaginative status? This essay singles out five strategies that occur with particular frequency in novels and stories that manifestly push back against a national Israeli narrative: multiple and variable focalization, analepsis, doubling, chiastic or conversion plots, and negative or counterfactual plotting. I argue, however, that adherence to fact is the necessary grounding for realist fiction to succeed as counter-narrative, though speculative and counterfactual novels offer their own path toward upending a master text. Ultimately, of course, the success of counter-narrative fiction will depend on the response of its readers. The counter-narrativity of fiction might therefore be best understood as a reading effect rather than as a textual quality. The testimony of readers does, however, provide ample evidence that fiction has rich counter-narrative capabilities.