Postwar Zionist Culture Author of Exodus Leon Uris Autograph Photograph

Leon Uris

Manuscripts & Autographs

Uris, Leon. Signed portrait photograph documents the Jewish American novelist whose historical fiction brought war, displacement, nationalism, and the founding of Israel to a mass postwar readership. The image supports research into Jewish American literature, popular historical fiction, American perceptions of Israel, and the cultural authority of bestselling authors during the mid-twentieth century. Uris is best known for Exodus, published in 1958 rather than 1959, which fictionalized events surrounding Jewish migration to Mandatory Palestine and the establishment of Israel.

Black-and-white photograph, 8 by 10 inches, presenting Uris in an unidentified portrait composition. Signed “Leon Uris” in the lower margin beneath the photographic image. The placement preserves the portrait surface while providing a clear autograph example. No photographer, studio, date, location, or publication use is identified in the supplied information.

Exodus became an international publishing success and was adapted by producer-director Otto Preminger into a film released in 1960, not 1961, with a screenplay by Dalton Trumbo and Paul Newman in the leading role. The novel and film played an influential role in popularizing a heroic Zionist account of Israel’s creation for American audiences, while later scholarship has examined the political and representational limits of that narrative. Clean and well preserved, with strong tonal contrast and a clear signature in the lower margin; excellent overall. A substantial signed portrait associated with one of the most widely circulated American literary interpretations of Israel’s founding.

Item #8281

Price: $85.00