Israeli Literature Research Articles

A Tribute to Professor Leon Yudkin (1939–2013)

Abstract This is a tribute to the Jewish literary critic Professor Leon Yudkin, who died in 2013. He was a prolific writer: the author of more than a dozen works and editor and co-editor of another five books. The range of his interests was prodigious, from individual writers like Shmuel Agnon, Joseph Roth and Else Lasker-Schüler to the Prague Circle, French feminist writers, German Expressionism and, above all, a series of authoritative surveys of Hebrew, Yiddish and Israeli literature. Much of this article focuses on his last book, posthumously published, Fiction Derailed: Form for the Modern (2020), an exploration of the modern novel. His greatest legacy was as a pioneer, someone who opened up the study of Jewish and especially Hebrew and Yiddish literature in the academy.

Inclusion, Equality and Educational Justice: Enhancing Social-Emotional Learning through Children’s Literature in a Diverse and Segregated Society

Children’s literature is an essential channel for providing children with social-emotional skills. This is particularly so in diverse and segregated societies where the need for enhancing awareness and acceptance of the Other is acute. Based on the content and semiotic analysis of 25 titles included in the state program “March of Books,” the present study examines how, if at all, social-emotional skills are reflected in the Hebrew-language children’s literature in Israel. Since the selected titles reflect all skill categories determined by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), the findings indicate that these selected titles can support children’s social-emotional learning (SEL). Nevertheless, the selected titles lack focus on a specific category within each text. Moreover, in a manner typical of Jewish-Israeli education, the selected titles expose young readers to their specific cultures and others through translated literature that highlights gender, Jewish-ethnic, physical, and age equality. At the same time, the selected titles tend to marginalize the culture of the Arab minority. The article concludes that education programs seeking to promote SEL through children’s literature must balance all SEL categories, represent the learners’ social differences, expose the readers to other cultures, and inculcate pluralist values.

Semiotics of Flags in Colonial Spaces: The Flag as an Identity Rhizome in the Literature of Palestinians in Israel

Semiotics of Flags in Colonial Spaces: The Flag as an Identity Rhizome in the Literature of Palestinians in Israel

The Poetics of Marginality in Israel: Ars Poetika and the Russophone Poets of the 1.5 Generation

Abstract: The article examines contemporary Israeli poetry by post-Soviet Jews who migrated to Israel after the collapse of the USSR. Complicating the dominant assessment of post-Soviet literature in Israel as an isolated and "ghettoized" phenomenon, an analysis of the poetry by Soviet-born, Hebrew-language poets Rita Kogan, Alex Rif, and Arik Eber reveals the strong influence of Hebrew literature in general, and of the Mizrahi poets of Ars Poetika in particular. Through close textual analysis and interviews with Rif, Kogan, and Eber, the article demonstrates how their verse has adopted and adapted the dominant building blocks of Ars Poetika—resistance to Ashkenazi hegemony, protest against exclusion and discrimination, and embrace of one's own culture and identity—to the situation of Russian-speaking Jews in Israel. Ultimately, the chapter shows how the cultural affinity with poets of Ars Poetika allows post-Soviet immigrants to both construct themselves as part of the Israeli-Jewish population and at the same time express their post-Soviet particularity, thereby bringing into relief the two halves of the poets' hyphenated Russian-Israeli cultural identities. Reflecting on this cultural cross-pollination, the chapter concludes by reading the poetry of Rif, Kogan, and Eber as part and parcel of contemporary Israeli literature.

Legal socialisation through literature in Israel’s education system

ABSTRACT This article offers a preliminary characterization of the legal discourse in literary texts written for children and taught by the Israeli general secular (Mamlakhti) education system since the 1950s. It shows that while for quite some time this discourse did not receive proper attention in educational curricula and textbooks, pupils today can be exposed to texts involving prominent legal elements and a deep-seated and critical perception of the rule of law as part of special enrichment programmes in the state education system. These paths give voice to those who call for local legal education and see a need to look current legal reality in the eye.

The road from nationalism to individualism passes through aesthetics: changes in Israeli literature readers, 1950s-1990s

ABSTRACT Literary readers express the pedagogical and literary perspectives that dominate a given era. This article examines Israeli readers for Junior High students from the 1950s when Zionist ideals were prioritised, to the 1970s – when literary studies promoted aesthetic and formalistic methods, to the 1990s, when textbooks highlighted the subjective response of the young readers. These changes were manifested in the readers through the selection of texts as well as the editorial divisions into ideological and aesthetic categories. This article explores these transformations by discussing dominant readers while focusing on the artistic elements, genres, and literary forms.

NAZISM AND ITS REFLECTION IN THE NOVEL BY DAVID GROSSMAN

The journey of modern Hebrew literature began in the last third of the eighteenth century, and Jewish critics record the virtue of introducing this new art to the Jews and alerting the public to it, Abraham Mabo. They reflect the realism of life through their writings, which expressed the writer's awareness and intellectual aspiration, which provided him with an increase of his references that he influenced and was influenced by to reflect them through the transformations that accompanied his career in the field of literary authorship. Intellectualism in the novel text of the wellknown Israeli writer David Grossman. Where it contained two topics, the first topic dealt with: an introduction in which we touched on the problem of displacement and diaspora that occurred to the Jews. The topic also included the importance of research and the need for it, since the research is a knowledge outcome that benefits readers and scholars, as well as the biography of the writer David Grossman and his most important literary productions, with the most important ideas dealt with in the novel " See Under: LOVE," the subject of the research. The second topic contained: the most important ideas highlighted by the novel, and presented the most important methods practiced by Nazism on the Jews of killing and torturing. The research concluded a set of conclusions, the most important of which are: 1. Since the beginning of the fifties, literary texts have been able to approach the political scene by addressing realistic topics that were able to embody and express the issues of the emerging Israeli society. 2. The subject of the Nazis distorted a large part of the Israeli literature, as it tended towards giving symbolic connotations through displaying events and analyzing them objectively

An ambivalent story: Queer children’s literature in Israel between 1986 and 2022

Since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, only 23 Queer literary works have been published for children and adolescents in Hebrew. This paper examines the characteristics of these works in light of the ambivalent and controversial status of the LGBTQ+ community in Israel. The findings show that the few works that have been published and that present same-sex families or LGBTQ+ characters, and the manner in which Queer themes are presented in those texts, are in line with how these issues are perceived and addressed by Israeli society. Moreover, this article divides the Queer Israeli literature for children and youth into three categories: implied Queer literature that hides the Queer existence through the allegoric genre; Queer-phobic literature that seemingly presents the Queer family but in actual fact promotes homophobic stereotypes; and Queer literature that places the LGBTQ+ character or family in the center of the story without passing judgment or criticism.

Hebrew Gothic: History and the Poetics of Persecution

Hebrew Gothic: History and the Poetics of Persecution

The reception of contemporary Israeli literature in China: the case of Etgar Keret

ABSTRACT In contrast to the steady increase in discrimination against Jewish and/or Israeli scholarship in Western academic circles over the past decade, supported by traditional antisemitic conspiracy tropes, Chinese academia, encouraged by government support for translation and publication of Israeli literature, has consistently expanded the opportunities for studying Israeli literature. This article analyzes the reception of Jewish and Israeli literature in China today, principally through assessment of the popularity of the writings of Etgar Keret, a contemporary writer well-known for his surrealist and sardonic writing style grounded in the hard realities of daily life in Israel. It will demonstrate a positive approach to contemporary Israeli literature in mainland Chinese universities and assess the reasons for it.

Israelis? Poles? Blurring the Boundaries of Identity in Contemporary Israeli Literature

Israelis? Poles? Blurring the Boundaries of Identity in Contemporary Israeli Literature

המת-החי נהפך לחי-מת: עיון במוטיב מפתח בתרבות ובספרות הישראלית

The dead-in-life figure, which is in a state of brain death with a still functioning heart and body is a common motif in contemporary Israeli culture and literature. The article examines this as a liminal literary, socio-politic motif, as well as a ‘symbolic trope’ that undermines the dichotomies of life and death, body and soul, and private and national existence. The article discusses six representations of the motif in Israeli literature in the 2000s and their political significance for Israeli culture. It also presents them as a grotesque incarnation of the Zionist "new man" motif. On the historiographical level, the article examines the dead-in-life motif in contrast to the living-dead symbol and to its variations in its presentation in Hebrew literature. This is followed by a discussion of the various stages in the formulation of the dead-in-life motif itself. First, as characters that contribute to the creation of alternate identities and narratives of otherness in Israeli society; then, through their affinity to the possibility of a mostly feminine anti-war protest; and finally, in two later works, through characters who opt for a vegetative life state, which may undermine the critical aspect of the motif.

Gender Research Between Identity and Policy: The Case of Israeli Social Sciences in the 21st Century

This review of gender research in 21st century Israel offers a twofold argument. The first is that Israeli gender literature follows parallel tracks: identity studies that serve as a platform for marginalized groups, and policy studies which examine the impact of economic, political, and legal policies on the status of women. Although the two approaches follow very different tracks, they are closely related and linked by feminist activism. This distinction is the organizing axis of our article. The second argument is that current gender literature in Israel is shaped mainly by neoliberalism and neocolonialism as opposed to a literature that traditionally focused on the nation state as the dominant power constituting gender relations. Neoliberal governance is not limited to economics or politics. It extends rather to newly gendered subjects, shapes citizenship patterns, and reorganizes society. Neocolonialism and the militarism it maintains attain a constitutive status in local experience, with a key role in identity politics, the gendering of political action and most importantly, the perpetration of gender inequalities. Our study indicates that gender research in Israel is shaped around neoliberalism and neocolonialism, both of which generate identification and resistance. Thus, despite the common tendency of gender scholars to oppose both neoliberalism and neocolonialism, a social division into multiple gender identity groups, as well as Israel's gender policies, may inadvertently serve the interests of both neoliberal and neocolonial regimes.

Belly Mommy, Heart Mommy: Queer Children’s Literature in Israel

Since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, only 23 Queer literary works have been published for children and adolescence in Hebrew. This paper examines the characteristics of these works in light of the ambivalent and controversial status of the LGBTQ+ Community in Israel. The findings show that the few works that have been published and that present same-sex families or LGBTQ+ characters, and the manner in which Queer themes are presented in those texts, are in line with how these issues are perceived and addressed by Israeli society. Moreover, this article divides the Queer Israeli literature for children and youth into three categories: implied Queer literature that hides the Queer existence through the allegoric genre; Queerphobic literature that seemingly presents the Queer family but in actual fact promotes homophobic stereotypes; and Queer literature that places the LGBTQ+ character or family in the center of the story without passing judgement or criticism.

Tragedies of Jewish Liberation: Mapping Hebrew Literature Between the Occupied Territories and Global Capital

Tragedies of Jewish LiberationMapping Hebrew Literature Between the Occupied Territories and Global Capital Rachel Green A review of: Borders, Territories, and Ethics: Hebrew Literature in the Shadow of the Intifada by Adia Mendelson-Maoz. Pp. xxiv + 242. West Lafayette: Purdue University Press, 2018. Paper: $39.95. Signatures of Struggle: The Figuration of Collectivty in Israeli Fiction. By Oded Nir. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2018. Paper: $32.95. On the surface, Oded Nir's Signatures of Struggle: The Figuration of Collectivity in Israeli Fiction and Adia Mendelson-Maoz's Borders, Territories, and Ethics: Hebrew Literature in the Shadow of the Intifada may seem to have little in common. Nir's monograph is a comprehensive and exceedingly bold re-conceptualization of Hebrew literary history from the "totalizing" vantage point of the historical materialism of Fredric Jameson, and the World-systems theory of Immanuel Wallerstein, Robert Brenner, and the Warwick Research Collective. Mendelson-Maoz's, on the other hand, is an artfully crafted, theoretically eclectic, spatio-ethical reading of select Hebrew texts published primarily between 1987–2007 that thematize Israeli experience, both military and civilian, during the period of the two Intifadas. Beyond sharing a partial chronological focus (the timeline of Mendelson-Maoz's book corresponds to roughly chapters four through seven of Nir's), each monograph articulates important aspects of the "tragedy"1 of Zionism and the State of Israel as vehicles for Jewish liberation. It is a tragedy that emerges in these studies as a set of seemingly unrelated failures, each socially repressed to different degrees. One tragic failure – Nir's focus, although he does not use the [End Page 259] word "tragedy" – is economic: despite its early socialist ideals, he posits, the Yishuv and its successor state became thoroughly capitalist and unequal, raising some Jewish boats while submerging many others. The other tragic failure – Mendelson-Maoz's focus, although she does not use the word "failure" – is political and sociocultural: that the project of Jewish liberation has morphed into the oppressor of millions of Palestinians in the Occupied Territories, a state of affairs which Israeli culture has struggled to address, much less acknowledge. Analyzing literary excavations of these failures and of their implications, the two monographs under discussion here craft timely, and as I will argue, implicitly interrelated interventions that thoroughly reinvigorate Hebrew literature and Hebrew literary studies. Borders, Territories, and Ethics brings the spatio-ethical to longstanding ethical discourse in Israeli literature and culture, echoing most immediately Yochai Oppenheimer's Me'ever la-gader: yitzug ha-'aravim ba-siporet ha-'ivrit 1906–2005 (Barriers: The Representation of the Arab in Hebrew and Israeli Fiction 1906–2005; 2008). Signatures of Struggle, on the other hand, marks the beginning of a wholly new economic turn in Hebrew literary criticism, evidenced in rising interest in neoliberalism, histories of capital, and economic precarity. Recently published complementary works include Kfir Cohen-Lustig's Maker of Worlds, Readers of Signs: Israeli and Palestinian Literature of the Global Contemporary (Verso, 2019), which considers the impact of shifts in material production upon both Israeli and Palestinian literatures. Nir and Mendelson-Maoz's monographs share many strengths. In addition to their novel theoretical frameworks, both bring to the attention of an English language readership myriad works not yet available in translation. Signatures of Struggle, in particular, must be credited with reinvigorating decades of Hebrew literature, making long forgotten, maligned, and in some cases, seemingly uninteresting texts sparkle anew with energy and immediacy. Nir even reveals that he has selected some texts, such as Natan Shaham's Tamid anaḥnu, (Always We), precisely because of the scorn visited upon it by established critics (p. 78). Borders, Territories, and Ethics in turn excels at historicizing complicity and liberal guilt in the Israeli cultural sphere; its account of "yorim u-bokhim" (shooting and crying) in the second chapter should be of particular interest to scholars working on these issues. [End Page 260] ________ Signatures of Struggle advances the intellectually audacious idea that the State of Israel as represented in Modern Hebrew literature represents not the triumph, but rather, the failure of the Zionist collective project. It is comprised of a theoretical introduction and seven body chapters, each...

“So That If One Dies”: The Narrative of the Replacement Child in Israeli Literature

“So That If One Dies”: The Narrative of the Replacement Child in Israeli Literature

With "Open Arms and Generous Heart": Representations of Refugees in Current Radical Israeli Literature for Children and Young Adults by Tamar Verete-Zehavi

Migration has seen a significant increase since the beginning of the twenty-first century due to many factors, especially the need to seek refuge, a result of political conflict in many countries. As children's literature provides a mirror to reflect changing social realities, Israeli literature for children and young adults today can also be read for representations of ongoing migration, including borders crossed into the State of Israel and involving both Jewish and non-Jewish immigrants. The present article addresses the discursive literary strategies used to construct images of refugees in the work of Tamar Verete-Zehavi, an author who writes for children and young adults.

Images of Home and Family Reflected in Children's Literature

Images of Home and Family Reflected in Children's Literature Janelle Mathis (bio) and Petros Panaou (bio) As a year of the many tragic issues brought on by the pandemic lies behind us, we are left wondering why and when we will see an end. However, we also acknowledge that in slowing down a bit, we have been given opportunity to think about aspects of our lives and the lives of others that may be taken for granted—not purposefully but because of the busy lives we normally lead. As we look across the topics in this unthemed issue of Bookbird, we immediately recognize images of home, family, and needs therein. In many ways for different readers, this can relate to the importance of home, those we identify as family, and what physical needs exist within a home—needs that for many are not filled in "normal" times. To borrow phrases from our authors here, in this issue we see "systemic issues based on equity," "breaking the molds of... happy endings," "progressive views of family formation," and "children's participation in family and social life." "Representations of Food Insecurity in Contemporary Picturebooks" by Maria V. Acevedo-Aquino employs critical multicultural analysis as a theoretical framework and methodology to examine representations of food insecurity in four contemporary realistic fiction picturebooks. The author raises questions around the invisibility of food insecurity in rural contexts, the overrepresentation of white children and families experiencing such in children's literature, the highlighting of privileged voices over those of children affected, and the need to address the systemic issue. "With 'Open Arms and Generous Heart': Representations of Refugees in Current Radical Israeli Literature for Children and Young Adults by Tamar Verete-Zehavi" written by Smadar Falk-Peretz focuses on children's literature as a mirror to reflect changing social realities. In discussing Israeli literature for children and young adults today that can also be read for representations of ongoing migration, including borders crossed into the State of Israel, this article ultimately shares that home is "a feeling stemming from being with those we are close to and love...a humane setting where we can find comfort, refuge, and consolation in times of trouble." The focus on family is continued in "Blood Doesn't Define Evotypical Families: Eleanor Spence's Stories of Informal and Formal Foster Care in Australia" by Dee Michell. Rather than consider these stories as naïve and idealistic, the author examines them in light of recent recognition and acceptance of a variety of family formations in hopes that readers will [End Page 1] consider the possibilities of family formation beyond the nuclear model as well as the familial bonds that can develop. The focus of children and their place within families is continued in "Bodies and Voices in Chilean Children's Literature: Fifty Years of Silencing Childhood (1920-1970)" by Isabel Ibaceta. A historical examination of Chilean children's literature points to five decades that have mostly silenced the figure of childhood in the literature aimed precisely at children. In light of studies that point to the history of children's participation in family and social life that only began to be culturally considered in Chile in the '60s, this article is a strong reminder that literature reflects societal trends and issues. Considered in context, it can teach much about other cultures. In light of the themes shared among these articles, it might seem that "The Winner Takes It All? The Impact of Awards on the Internationalization of the Portuguese Children's Publisher Planeta Tangerina" by Inês Costa is a bit of an anomaly—or is it? Using the Portuguese publishing house Planeta Tangerina as a case study, this article examines whether there is evidence of a cause-effect relation between winning national and international artistic and literary prizes and the sales of the translation rights to other countries. The outcome of this study is a strong reminder of the need for those of us who are aware of and advocate for global children's literature to share our insights and awareness about books from other countries—award winners as well as others that also are excellent resources; find our place through...

“Like a cow that gave birth to a seagull”: Amos Oz, Yoel Hoffmann and the birth of The Same Sea

ABSTRACT This article examines Oz’s novel The Same Sea (1999) and argues that it marks the novelist’s attempt to join a new phase in Israeli literature. Comparing The Same Sea to two novels by Yoel Hoffmann, one of the most famous representatives of this phase, the article sheds light on Oz’s struggle to balance between the writing norms that helped establish his status as “the shaman of the tribe” and the new norms, associated with Israeli postmodernism.

War and Peace: The Theme of Conflict in Modern Hebrew Literature of the Last Seventy Years

Modern Israeli Literature, starting with the foundation of the State of Israel in 1948 and overshadowed by the Shoah, until today is dominated by the theme of the political conflict with the Arab neighbours. In this article, some key works of different genres in prose and poetry depicting this state of affairs will be introduced.