Jewish-Muslim Relations in the Israeli Space in Yehoshua’s Literary Works · 275do not yet know that they are Jews” (323). The name “others” creates
demonic associations, and indeed these “others” who do not accept his
opinion turn out to be demonic murderers who refuse to turn into “hy-
brid creatures” lacking a clear identity.^18
The atmosphere is also delusional in “The Last Night.” The main fig-
ure in this story is a dog, Horatio, who is a literary theoretician and the
image of the author. This dog observes Jerusalem and the “collective
rabble awareness that bursts out of boundaries,” which is also expressed
in the novel Mr. Mani.^19 The dog has a monologue in which he describes
his travels in Jerusalem with a stray female dog. They recognize the city
by “the stone walls, the billboards... the smell in the air, this coolness”
(222). The dog also describes the city as “a fateful city that is converged in
a limited and bisected area” (223), where in his opinion “here is a fright-
ening, obligating collective essence” (224).
In his wanderings he stands in dim doorways, inhaling the smells of
the “national depths” and the “smell of the fear of history” (226). In the
alleys of Meah Shearim he is frightened by the sight of burning garbage
cans and calls the city “crazy” (227). He asks: “This Jerusalem, how can
one be rid of it, a real trap?” and he wants to escape from the city, claim-
ing: “No monologue will grow here, only a dark lamentation” (227).
When he reaches Tel-Aviv, he declares, “This is my home” (228). Tel-Aviv
is perceived by Yehoshua as a city with clear borders and as completely
Israeli.^20
The motto of the second chapter in A Late Divorce can shed light on
the roles of space in Yehoshua’s works. “The things fall apart. The center
is falling apart. Anarchy is wrapped around the world” (39). Space in
Yehoshua’s work is a space without clear borders, a space in which there
are uncontrolled wanderings in and out. The absence of control creates a
carnival-like atmosphere, and already in “The Last Night” the dog takes
a “carnival-like walk.”
According to Bakhtin, a syncretic process is created in the carnival,
which is characterized by the blurring of social boundaries.^21 The social-
hierarchical inequality is temporarily abolished. Absolute order turns
into relative order in the carnival, thanks to the laughter, and a new mo-
dus of interrelations between the self and the other is created. The ec-
centric carnival outlook is based on a passion for exchange and change.
Usurpation of the usual and the accepted and life that has deviated from
its normal course have turned into “an upside-down world.” Jerusalem,