The last decade of the 20^th century was marked by the “feminization” of Hebrew literature. Has the category of “female literature” become – today, thirty years after this “boom” of female writers (and feminist criticism) – unnecessary and outdated? Did the literary canon also experience “feminization” or has it remained male dominated? This course will seek to rethink the place of Hebrew female authors in the historiography of modern Hebrew literature – from Dvora Baron, the first "mother", throughout the "absent" authors of the '50s-'80s, to the wave of women writers in the '90s. Did these writers succeed in shifting from the margins to the center, or is their presence in the wider historiographical narrative still marked as spectral and absent?       

During the course, we will read from the works of Baron, Yehudit Hendel, Amalia Kahana-Carmon, Rachel Eytan, Orly Castel-Bloom, Ronit Matalon, Lea Aini and more. Towards the end of the semester, we will also try to view some of the latest attempts to explore new "territories" and models of writing, such as Yael Neeman's Once There Was a Woman and Hila Amit's Moving on from Bliss. The chronological movement will also involve a counter-movement, which asks to point to the muted relations between those authors, and to examine the relevance of categories such as “women’s literature” and “literary canon” in 2019. The discussions will be accompanied by reading feminist, psychoanalytic and poststructuralist theories. 

Course requirements: Full attendance in classes, reading the literary and theoretical texts, submitting final paper.