The study focuses on the role and function of Israel in postmodern Jewish American literature. Hence, the work is based on the thesis that the existence of a Jewish State in the Middle East has developed into a key motive for postmodern Jewish American literature. The role of a Jewish State is examined in particular with regards to questions of Jewish American identity, as well as with regards to related questions of ambivalent attitudes and political positions towards Israel in general and Jewish American identity in particular. A comparison of Saul Bellow's 'To Jerusalem and Back' and Philip Roth's 'Operation Shylock: A Confession' provides a basis for the analysis of the above stated assumptions.

Anna Jonas, born in 1989 in Austria, studied Political Science and English and American Studies at the University of Vienna. After several stays abroad, she currently lives in Vienna for her Postgraduate Masters degree in Advanced International Studies at the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna.