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to come.” Recognized as one of the most important Jewish
American writers of the present time, Chabon posits in his
novel a provocative question by placing Jews in the awkward
position presently occupied by the Palestinians: having to live
on borrowed time, on land not their own, with Diaspora an
everyday reality. How are peace and redemption possible
under such circumstances, given that contingencies tend to
divert history from rationally calculated paths onto
unintentional detours? Chabon’s counterfactual fiction
proffers a strident critique of religious fundamentalism in all
its forms, especially fundamentalisms bound up with
nationalism. Neither Diaspora nor Zionism guarantees Jews
their long-awaited redemption; however, small-scale
redemption is readily available when the redemptive fantasy
is placed in suspension, thus opening up space for “the
blessings of more life.”
Key Words:
counterfactual, conspiracy, diaspora, funda-
mentalism, exceptionalism