Enigmatic Shylock, the central figure of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice (1596), and its varied interpretations continue to intrigue critics since the play's publication. One of the most faithful yet different of its adaptations is Bakathir's The New Shylock (1945). The present paper aims at deconstructing Shakespeare's Shylock and Bakathir's Shylock in the light of Derrida's concept "différance" to compare the two versions of the Jew and possibly capture the extremes of Jewish identity through several stages of their history. The significance of comparing Bakathir's version of the Jew, which exemplifies the opposite Eastern pole, to the Shakespearean Western is supposed to portray two crucial stages in the process of Jewish identity construction. Tackling the two Shylocks from the deconstructive perspective provides a text-oriented analysis focusing primarily on the binaries and the semantic and etymological meanings of words that reflect the telltale moments in both texts. The study finds out that whereas Shakespeare's Shylock is defeated because of his inability to control events, Bakathir's Shylock succeeds in mastering the play of circumstances, but temporarily. His suicide, at the end, enhances possibilities to answer the main inquiry: Who is "Shylock"? Therefore, further studies are recommended to compare and contrast Shakespeare's Shylock with the most recent adaptations, in the East or the West, using the same theoretical framework to provide an image of the Jew/ Zionist in the spatial and temporal processes of the Jewish enigmatic identity development.

The present paper attempts to deconstruct two postmodern Australian Jewish novels to examine the chief social-psychological dimensions of the main characters: David, in Besser’s Man in the Corner (2016) and Otis, in Birman’s How to Walk Away (2015) and thus investigate their implications about contemporary Jewish identity within the ethnoreligious Australian Jewish context. The previous analyses of the texts have only been internet reviews focusing on the psychological dimension on its own. These reviews have not linked the texts to current Jewish identity, as attempted in this article. In addition, these attempts’ focus has been on several perspectives, not deconstructive. Therefore, this paper delves into the mystic depths of these novels inferring, through deconstruction, the Jewish Identity in the postmodern era. The analyses have been conducted in light of Breakwell’s Identity Process Theory (1986) and Derrida’s Différance through textual analysis that elicits the traces beyond binaries, rhetoric expressions, and semantic and morphosyntactic tell-tale textual moments. David and Otis pass different experiences and personal traumas that primarily influence their ability to decisions making and thus initially increasingly shrink inward. However, the later awakening by confessing the existing problems, renewal and pleading to God provides ways to walk away from these traumas. These solutions reflect the overall diverse attempts of the Australian Jews today to overcome their traumatic past by universalizing the experiences of suffering, by attempts to communicate with the self and the other and to -sometimes- return to God.

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The present paper attempts to deconstruct two postmodern Australian Jewish novels to examine the chief social-psychological dimensions of the main characters: David, in Besser’s Man in the Corner (2016) and Otis, in Birman’s How to Walk Away (2015) and thus investigate their implications about contemporary Jewish identity within the ethnoreligious Australian Jewish context. The previous analyses of the texts have only been internet reviews focusing on the psychological dimension on its own. These reviews have not linked the texts to current Jewish identity, as attempted in this article. In addition, these attempts’ focus has been on several perspectives, not deconstructive. Therefore, this paper delves into the mystic depths of these novels inferring, through deconstruction, the Jewish Identity in the postmodern era. The analyses have been conducted in light of Breakwell’s Identity Process Theory (1986) and Derrida’s Différance through textual analysis that elicits the traces beyond binaries, rhetoric expressions, and semantic and morphosyntactic tell-tale textual moments. David and Otis pass different experiences and personal traumas that primarily influence their ability to decisions making and thus initially increasingly shrink inward. However, the later awakening by confessing the existing problems, renewal and pleading to God provides ways to walk away from these traumas. These solutions reflect the overall diverse attempts of the Australian Jews today to overcome their traumatic past by universalizing the experiences of suffering, by attempts to communicate with the self and the other and to -sometimes- return to God.