Fall 2013
Third Issue, 2013
Publish Date: November 2013
Editors: Batya Shimony and Yigal Schwartz
Editorial Board: Eitan Bar-Yosef, Hanna Soker-Schwager, Anat Weisman
Translation Editor: Hannah A. Komy Ofir
The new volume of the electronic journal BGU Review is dedicated to the works of authors and poets of the second generation of the 1950s immigration to Israel. All of these writers are the children of immigrants from Arab countries, with the exception of Leah Aini, whose father is a native of Salonika and whose mother is Nashdidani, and are known in Israeli society as "Mizrahim". They grew up in the social and cultural periphery of Israel. In the past several decades, their works, which began to be published in the 1980s and 1990s, have come to fruition and have arrived at a position of honor in the Israeli literary space. This literature offers novel poetic and thematic directions that challenged accepted social and national ideologies and offered a new language with which to understand Israeli society and culture. In this volume, we present a poetical-personal essay by each one of the writers, accompanied by an academic article that addresses his or her works, as well as a panoramic article that discusses the Holocaust connection in the works of this generation of writers.
This issue is based on the conference "Between East and West: Oriental Writers and Orientalism in Israeli Literature and Culture", which was held in Heidelberg, Germany in April 2013. The conference was initiated and organized by Prof. Anat Feinberg, Hochschule für Jüdische Studien, Heidelberg and Prof. Yigal Schwartz, Director of Heksherim: The Research Institute for Jewish and Israeli Literature and Culture, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.
All of the articles were translated to English by Hannah Komy Ofir.
We thank her for her excellent and helpful work.
Full articles
Batya Shimony - Identity, Status, And The Shadow Of The Holocaust In The Work Of Second–Generation Mizrahi Writers
A Senior Lecturer in the Department of Hebrew Literature at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and Achva Academic College. Her research interest is Mizrahi literature in its various aspects: identity, the perception of the Holocaust, immigration, and more. She is the author of On the Threshold of Redemption: The Story of the Ma’abara, First and Second generation, Dvir, 2008 (Hebrew). Her recent publications include: "Resisting the Father’s Narrative: A Study of Leah Aini’s Vered ha-Levanon" published in 2012 in Prooftexts and "Shaping Israeli-Arab Identity in Hebrew Words- The Case of Sayed Kashua," published in 2013 in Israel Studies.
shimonyb@bgu.ac.il
Leah Aini - The Violence Of The Survivors
A Writer, Aini has published 17 books, nine of them prose books for adults. She won the Bialik Prize for literature in 2010 for her novel Rose of Lebanon, which was also shortlisted as one of the finalists for the 2010 Sapir Prize. Her last novel, Susit, was shortlisted as one of the finalists for the 2012 Sapir Prize. Aini was twice awarded the "Prime Minister’s Prize for Hebrew Writers" (1994, 2004). She won the Bernstein Prize for Drama in 2006 and the Tel-Aviv Fund writing scholarship in 1993. In 1988, Aini was awarded both Bar-Ilan University’s Wertheim Poetry Prize and Haifa University’s Adler Prize for her first poetry book, Dyokan (Portrait).
Irad5@hotmail.com
Yigal Schwartz - The Leah Aini Project: Literature As An Act Of Survival
A Full Professor in the Department of Hebrew Literature at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU), the director of Heksherim: The Research Center for Jewish and Israeli Culture and head of the Publishing Track at BGU. He has published seven books of research and dozens of articles that have been translated into eight languages. He has also edited some two hundred books—research works, prose, poetry, and drama—mainly in the framework of his position as senior editor at Keter Publishing House and at the Kinneret Zmora Bitan publishing house. His latest publications include Believer without a Church. Kinneret, Zmora-Bitan, Dvir, 2009 (Hebrew) and The Cult of the Author and the State Religion, published by Dvir in 2011 (Hebrew).
yigals@bgu.ac.il
Shimon Adaf - Who Gave You A Language, Who Told You: "Speak Now"?
Adaf was born 1972, in Sderot, Israel. He has published three collections of poetry and six novels. His most recent work in poetry is Aviva-No (Dvir, 2009), for which he won the Yehuda Amichai Award for poetry. In fiction, his latest published work is the trilogy Rose of Judea (Kinneret-Zmora-Bitan, 2010-2012). Its second volume, Mox Nox, was awarded the Sapir prize in 2012.
adaf@bgu.ac.il
Hadas Shabat–Nadir - "The Private Shadow And The Shadows That Are Cast Upon Me": What Is A Mizrahi Writer? On Shimon Adaf’s Early Poetry
A PhD student in the Department of Hebrew Literature at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Her dissertation, "Categories of Minority and their Transgression in Israeli Discourse and Poetry – Can we Compare?", deals with Avoth Yeshurun, Dan Pagis, and Erez Biton. Her latest publication, "The 'Yeshurun Effect' in the Poetry of the Seventies: Avot Yeshurun, Dan Pagis and Erez Biton" appeared in 2013 in Jerusalem Studies in Hebrew Literature [Mechkarey Yerushalyim Besifrut Ivrit].
hadas.sbn@gmail.com
Amira Hess - A Personality Not Made To Adapt To This Reality
Almog Behar - Identity And Gender In The Poetry Of Amira Hess
A poet, writer, and PhD student in the Department of Literature at Tel-Aviv University. His dissertation is titled: "From the Late Liturgical Jewish Poetry to Mizrahi Literature in the 20th Century: Toward a Genealogy of Mizrahi Literature in Israel". His recent publications include "Mahmoud Darwish: Poetry Stage of Siege," which appeared in 2011 in Journal of Levantine Studies, "From Yehuda HaLevy to Yehuda Burla," which appeared in 2013 in the book Piyut as a Cultural Window (Van-Leer Institute), and Rachel and Ezekiel (Chachla Ve-Chezkel, a Novel), which was published by Keter in 2010.
almogbehar@gmail.com
Ronny Someck - The Ballet Dance Of The Pita In The Hummus Plate
A poet, has published 11 volumes of poetry in Hebrew (the latest titled Horse Power (and two books for children with his daughter Shirly (the latest titled Monkey Tough, Monkey Bluff). His works have been translated into 41 languages. In 2012, he was awarded the Polish Cross of The Order of The Knights for a Distinguished Service. In 2013, he received the award of the French Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters.
someck@netvision.net.il
http://www.ronnysomeck.com
Ktzia Alon - Strong Opposition Under Hegemonic Poetics: One Comment On The Poetry Of Ronny Someck
A lecturer at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, a curator and an art critic. Her book on Mizrahi poetics, Efsharut Shlishit LeShira (Third Possibility of Poetry) was recently published by HaKibbutz Hameuhad publishing house, and her lecture series was broadcast by the Israel Defense Forces’ radio station. Her forthcoming book, Shoshanat HaMeri HaShehora (Black Rebellion Rose), will be published by the Broadcasted University publishing house. Dr. Alon is co-founder of the movement Achoti - for Women in Israel.
alonktzia@hotmail.com
