The house is a key figure in the Israeli ideology of nation building; its construction, as an act of repair of the destruction of the temple (Hurban Ha-Bait), is a crucial aspect of the myth of return propagated by Zionism. Hebrew literature played a significant role in this myth's constitution. Nevertheless, it has consistently questioned, and still does, the promise of redemption the concept of an Israeli house comprises, its legitimacy and its fortitude. Moreover, literature often exposes this house as a ruptured, haunted figure, disturbed by ghosts of the past as well as by subversive diasporic yearnings.

The course will discuss these issues as they are represented in various Hebrew literary pieces, written by men and women authors such  S. Y. Agnon, Y. H. Brenner, Amalya Cahana Carmon, Yehudit Hendel, Yehoshua Kenaz, Amos Oz and others.