De Haan orientalized himself doubly through Palestinian and ultra-Orthodox life

Evidence

De Haan’s real-life Orient witnessed greater contradictions, brutality, and contempt than that of the novelist. It was a raging dystopia, with Zionists attempting to subdue nature, the Arabs, and the Haredim. De Haan’s utopian oriental fantasy conceived that harmony could be attained if all of Jewry submitted to the demands of the ultra-Orthodox, the British colonial rulers, and the Arabs—with all trace of Jewish national sentiment and the very impulse toward secularism erased, a demon exorcised. — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 444 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: De Haan’s utopian Orient required erasing Jewish nationalism and secularism; De Haan’s utopian vision demanded subordination to Orthodox, colonial, and Arab authority alike; De Haan fused homoerotic impulse with religious devotion in his poetry. — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 444 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• De Haan’s oriental utopia required erasing Jewish nationalism and secularism. #complicates (0.82) — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 444