In the Light of Darkness: The Satiric Mode in Nathan Alterman’s Journalistic Poetry

Abstract

Natan Alterman, Poet Laureate of the Yishuv (the pre-state Jewish community in Palestine) and early decades of Israel, is not generally acknowledged as a satiric writer. The two contexts in which the term “satire” or adjective “satirical” are applied to his work relate to his last book, the novel Hamasecha Ha’achronah (The Last Masque) ‒ a marginal, almost eccentric oeuvre – and the lighthearted ditties he penned for “Hakumkum” (“The Kettle”) and “Li La Lo” theatres.

While the term “satire” is not entirely absent from the criticism of his journalistic poetry ‒ “Rega’im” (“Moments”) and “Hatur Hashvi’i” (“The Seventh Column”) ‒ it is generally not emphasized and the works’ satirical content and import generally remain unacknowledged and unanalyzed.

The article contends that the satirical mode is a central feature in Alterman’s journalistic poetry, one in which he displays prodigious dexterity, exemplifying his rich, versatile, and often virtuosic capabilities. It discusses the major rhetorical, prosodic, thematic, and historical components of this mode, which, together with Alterman’s prophetic and discursive modes, form the largest, most popular, and most influential body of topical verse in Modern Hebrew literature.