Hebrew Children’s Literature – Introduction (4 Academic Points)
Prof. Yael Darr

In the course, we will map the history and culture of Hebrew children’s literature, beginning with works produced in Europe and Palestine in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century. We will review the cultural background of Hebrew literature as well as its writers and audiences. At the same time, we will look at Yiddish children’s literature and its affiliation with Hebrew literature.

Subsequently, we will examine the transfer of the Jewish cultural center to Palestine, tracing the establishment of the literary hegemony and inquiring into its nature, agents, audiences and chief writers. We will then examine the shift from a pioneer society to a civil ethos, following the establishment of the state in the 1950s and 60s, focusing on the depoliticization of child culture and literature during these years.

We will continue with the drastic changes that children’s poetry and prose have undergone in the 70s and 80s, anchoring them in the understandings of parenthood and childhood seen in Israel at the time. We will conclude with the influence of postmodern poetics on Israeli children’s literature will be discussed, and with the effects of globalization and new media on Israeli children’s literature in recent decades.

During the course we will read numerous literary texts and secondary sources from various academic disciplines.