Producing the Modern Hebrew Canon

Producing the Modern Hebrew Canon PDF Author: Hannan Hever
Publisher: NYU Press
ISBN: 9780814736449
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 259

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Book Description
A people's writings can play a dramatic role in nation building, as the development of modern Hebrew literature powerfully illustrates. Since the end of the nineteenth century, Hebrew writers in Europe and Palestine/Israel have produced texts and consolidated moments in the shaping of national identity. Yet, this process has not always been a unified and continuous one. The processes of canon formation and the suppression of heterodox discourses have been played out publicly and vociferously. Producing the Modern Hebrew Canon offers a sweeping view of the entirety of modern Hebrew literature, from Berdichevski and Agnon to Shammas and Habiby, shedding light on the moments of rupture and reversal which have undermined efforts to construct a hegemonic Zionist narrative. It provides a model for understanding the relations between minority and majority voices in postcolonial situations, showing these processes working and changing over time, from the earliest days of the creation of a labor Zionist sensibility for literature to Israeli state culture and the discourses of Arab otherness. By illuminating both the process of canon formation as well as the voices excluded from the canon, Producing the Modern Hebrew Canon offers a powerful alternative reading of twentieth century Hebrew fiction.

Producing the Modern Hebrew Canon

Producing the Modern Hebrew Canon PDF Author: Hannan Hever
Publisher: NYU Press
ISBN: 9780814736449
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 259

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Book Description
A people's writings can play a dramatic role in nation building, as the development of modern Hebrew literature powerfully illustrates. Since the end of the nineteenth century, Hebrew writers in Europe and Palestine/Israel have produced texts and consolidated moments in the shaping of national identity. Yet, this process has not always been a unified and continuous one. The processes of canon formation and the suppression of heterodox discourses have been played out publicly and vociferously. Producing the Modern Hebrew Canon offers a sweeping view of the entirety of modern Hebrew literature, from Berdichevski and Agnon to Shammas and Habiby, shedding light on the moments of rupture and reversal which have undermined efforts to construct a hegemonic Zionist narrative. It provides a model for understanding the relations between minority and majority voices in postcolonial situations, showing these processes working and changing over time, from the earliest days of the creation of a labor Zionist sensibility for literature to Israeli state culture and the discourses of Arab otherness. By illuminating both the process of canon formation as well as the voices excluded from the canon, Producing the Modern Hebrew Canon offers a powerful alternative reading of twentieth century Hebrew fiction.

I. L. Peretz and the Making of Modern Jewish Culture

I. L. Peretz and the Making of Modern Jewish Culture PDF Author: Ruth R. Wisse
Publisher: University of Washington Press
ISBN: 0295805676
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 147

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Book Description
I. L. Peretz (1852–1915), the father of modern Yiddish literature, was a master storyteller and social critic who advocated a radical shift from religious observance to secular Jewish culture. Wisse explores Peretz’s writings in relation to his ideology, which sought to create a strong Jewish identity separate from the trappings of religion.

The Evolution of Modern Hebrew Literature, 1850-1912 (Classic Reprint)

The Evolution of Modern Hebrew Literature, 1850-1912 (Classic Reprint) PDF Author: A. S. Waldstein
Publisher: Forgotten Books
ISBN: 9780365027829
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 140

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Book Description
Excerpt from The Evolution of Modern Hebrew Literature, 1850-1912 Hebrew literature did not end with the close of the Canon Of the Old Testament, but has continued its existence through all the devious paths Of Jewish history down to our own time, always expressing the spirit, the influences, the material and spiritual condition Of the Jewish people during the long ages Of its struggle and suflering. During all these years, Hebrew literature has shared the fortunes Of the Jewish people, it has been swayed by the same influences, and subject to the same varying atmospheric pressure. For two reasons the line Of demarcation between the different periods of this literature stands out very clearly against the light of history, perhaps more than in any other litera ture. In the first place, as the Jewish spirit has always been collective rather than individualistic, the movement of Hebrew literature has generally been, SO to speak, en masse; and it is always easier to define the limits Of a collective movement than to trace individual tastes and influences. Secondly, the various periods Of Hebrew literature, at least up to the nineteenth century, were as a Whole co-extensive with the periods of Jewish history as connected with this or that particular country. It is enough to recall to mind the history Of the Jews in Spain, for example, and the so-called Spanish period of Hebrew literature immediately stands before the mind's eye, clear-cut, well-rounded, and well-defined. The division of Hebrew literature into distinct periods, is, therefore, easy and natural. The literary production that immediately followed the Bible. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

The Hebrew Book in Early Modern Italy

The Hebrew Book in Early Modern Italy PDF Author: Joseph R. Hacker
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN: 081220509X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 334

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Book Description
The rise of printing had major effects on culture and society in the early modern period, and the presence of this new technology—and the relatively rapid embrace of it among early modern Jews—certainly had an effect on many aspects of Jewish culture. One major change that print seems to have brought to the Jewish communities of Christian Europe, particularly in Italy, was greater interaction between Jews and Christians in the production and dissemination of books. Starting in the early sixteenth century, the locus of production for Jewish books in many places in Italy was in Christian-owned print shops, with Jews and Christians collaborating on the editorial and technical processes of book production. As this Jewish-Christian collaboration often took place under conditions of control by Christians (for example, the involvement of Christian typesetters and printers, expurgation and censorship of Hebrew texts, and state control of Hebrew printing), its study opens up an important set of questions about the role that Christians played in shaping Jewish culture. Presenting new research by an international group of scholars, this book represents a step toward a fuller understanding of Jewish book history. Individual essays focus on a range of issues related to the production and dissemination of Hebrew books as well as their audiences. Topics include the activities of scribes and printers, the creation of new types of literature and the transformation of canonical works in the era of print, the external and internal censorship of Hebrew books, and the reading interests of Jews. An introduction summarizes the state of scholarship in the field and offers an overview of the transition from manuscript to print in this period.

Scribal Culture and the Making of the Hebrew Bible

Scribal Culture and the Making of the Hebrew Bible PDF Author: Karel van der Toorn
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674032543
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 414

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Book Description
We think of the Hebrew Bible as the Book--and yet it was produced by a largely nonliterate culture in which writing, editing, copying, interpretation, and public reading were the work of a professional elite. The scribes of ancient Israel are indeed the main figures behind the Hebrew Bible, and in this book Karel van der Toorn tells their story for the first time. His book considers the Bible in very specific historical terms, as the output of the scribal workshop of the Second Temple active in the period 500-200 BCE. Drawing comparisons with the scribal practices of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, van der Toorn clearly details the methods, the assumptions, and the material means of production that gave rise to biblical texts; then he brings his observations to bear on two important texts, Deuteronomy and Jeremiah. Traditionally seen as the copycats of antiquity, the scribes emerge here as the literate elite who held the key to the production as well as the transmission of texts. Van der Toorn's account of scribal culture opens a new perspective on the origins of the Hebrew Bible, revealing how the individual books of the Bible and the authors associated with them were products of the social and intellectual world of the scribes. By taking us inside that world, this book yields a new and arresting appreciation of the Hebrew Scriptures.

Arabic in Modern Hebrew Texts

Arabic in Modern Hebrew Texts PDF Author: Mohamed A.H. Ahmed
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
ISBN: 1474444458
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 200

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Book Description
In the late 1950s, Iraqi Jews were either forced or chose to leave Iraq for Israel. Finding it impossible to continue writing in Arabic in Israel, many Iraqi Jewish novelists faced the literary challenge of switching to Hebrew. Focusing on the literary works of the writers Shimon Ballas, Sami Michael and Eli Amir, this book examines their use of their native Iraqi Arabic in their Hebrew works. It examines the influence of Arabic language and culture and explores questions of language, place and belonging from the perspective of sociolinguistics and multilingualism.In addition Ahmed applies stylistics as a framework to investigate the range of linguistic phenomena that can be found in these exophonic texts, such as code-switching, borrowing, language and translation strategies. This new stylistic framework for analysing exophonic texts offers a future model for the study of other languages.The social and political implications of this dilemma, as it finds expression in creative writing, are also manifold. In an age of mass migration and population displacement, the conflicted loyalties explored in this book through the prism of Arabic and Hebrew are relevant in a range of linguistic contexts.

Poetic Trespass

Poetic Trespass PDF Author: Lital Levy
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691176094
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 353

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Book Description
A Palestinian-Israeli poet declares a new state whose language, "Homelandic," is a combination of Arabic and Hebrew. A Jewish-Israeli author imagines a "language plague" that infects young Hebrew speakers with old world accents, and sends the narrator in search of his Arabic heritage. In Poetic Trespass, Lital Levy brings together such startling visions to offer the first in-depth study of the relationship between Hebrew and Arabic in the literature and culture of Israel/Palestine. More than that, she presents a captivating portrait of the literary imagination's power to transgress political boundaries and transform ideas about language and belonging. Blending history and literature, Poetic Trespass traces the interwoven life of Arabic and Hebrew in Israel/Palestine from the turn of the twentieth century to the present, exposing the two languages' intimate entanglements in contemporary works of prose, poetry, film, and visual art by both Palestinian and Jewish citizens of Israel. In a context where intense political and social pressures work to identify Jews with Hebrew and Palestinians with Arabic, Levy finds writers who have boldly crossed over this divide to create literature in the language of their "other," as well as writers who bring the two languages into dialogue to rewrite them from within. Exploring such acts of poetic trespass, Levy introduces new readings of canonical and lesser-known authors, including Emile Habiby, Hayyim Nahman Bialik, Anton Shammas, Saul Tchernichowsky, Samir Naqqash, Ronit Matalon, Salman Masalha, A. B. Yehoshua, and Almog Behar. By revealing uncommon visions of what it means to write in Arabic and Hebrew, Poetic Trespass will change the way we understand literature and culture in the shadow of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Spoiling the Stories

Spoiling the Stories PDF Author: Tamar Merin
Publisher: Northwestern University Press
ISBN: 0810133725
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 216

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Book Description
In Spoiling the Stories, Tamar Merin presents the as yet untold story of the rise of prose by Israeli women, while further exploring and expanding the gendered models of literary influence in modern Hebrew literature. The theoretical idea upon which this book is based is that of intersexual dialogue, a term that refers to the various literary strategies employed by Israeli female fiction writers expressing their voice within a male-dominated and (still) inherently Oedipal literary tradition. Spoiling the Stories focuses on intersexual dialogue as it evolved in the first three decades after the establishment of the state of Israel in the works of Yehudit Hendel, Amalia Kahana Carmon, and Rachel Eytan. According to Merin, these three women writers were the most important in the history of modern Hebrew literature: each was a significant participant in the poetic development of her time.

The Place of the Mediterranean in Modern Israeli Identity (paperback)

The Place of the Mediterranean in Modern Israeli Identity (paperback) PDF Author: Alexandra Nocke
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9047426711
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 320

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Book Description
This book offers new perspectives on Israel’s evolving Mediterranean identity, which centers around the longing to find a "natural" place in the region. It explores Mediterraneanism as reflected in popular music, literature, architecture, and daily life, and analyzes ways in which the notion comprises cultural identity and polical realities.

Futurity

Futurity PDF Author: Amir Eshel
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226924955
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 368

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Book Description
When looking at how trauma is represented in literature and the arts, we tend to focus on the weight of the past. In this book, Amir Eshel suggests that this retrospective gaze has trapped us in a search for reason in the madness of the twentieth century’s catastrophes at the expense of literature’s prospective vision. Considering several key literary works, Eshel argues in Futurity that by grappling with watershed events of modernity, these works display a future-centric engagement with the past that opens up the present to new political, cultural, and ethical possibilities—what he calls futurity. Bringing together postwar German, Israeli, and Anglo-American literature, Eshel traces a shared trajectory of futurity in world literature. He begins by examining German works of fiction and the debates they spurred over the future character of Germany’s public sphere. Turning to literary works by Jewish-Israeli writers as they revisit Israel’s political birth, he shows how these stories inspired a powerful reconsideration of Israel’s identity. Eshel then discusses post-1989 literature—from Ian McEwan’s Black Dogs to J. M. Coetzee’s Diary of a Bad Year—revealing how these books turn to events like World War II and the Iraq War not simply to make sense of the past but to contemplate the political and intellectual horizon that emerged after 1989. Bringing to light how reflections on the past create tools for the future, Futurity reminds us of the numerous possibilities literature holds for grappling with the challenges of both today and tomorrow.