Chronology and Ideology. Temporal Structuring in Israeli Historical Documentary Series

This paper examines two major Israeli historic-documentary television series, Pillar of Fire (POF), product of the 1970's, and Revival (RL), product of the 1990's.The series deal with the Zionist enterprise and its realization. The research applies Gerard Genette's central narratological typology to the series' temporal structures, through the categories of Order, Duration and Frequency. Findings show that while POF's classic, linear, , historicist structure serves its celebration of the Zionist narrative, RL employs a unique, complex , multi-dimensional structure, which enables its historical multivocality, and supports its critical presentation of the cyclical Arab-Israeli Conflict and revisionism of Israeli history.