Contemporary Hebrew Literature
A new generation of Hebrew writers emerged with the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. This new generation included the novelists Aharon Megged, Nathan Shaham, and Moshe Shamir, and the poets Yehudah Amichai, Amir Gilboa, and Haim Gouri. The novels My Michael (1968) and Black Box (1987) by Amos Oz and The Lover (1977) and Mr. Mani (1990) by A. B. Yehoshua describe life in the new state. These works also explore topics such the as conflict between parents and children and the rejection of some once-sacred ideals of Judaism and Zionism.
Many Hebrew writers in the late twentieth century dealt with the Holocaust, women's issues, and the conflict between Israelis and Arabs. Another topic was the tension between Jews of European origin, the Ashkenazim, and Jews of Middle Eastern and Mediterranean origin, the Mizrahim and Sephardim.
Modern Hebrew authors include Ruth Almog, Aharon Appelfeld, David Grossman, Amalia Kahana-Carmon, Etgar Keret, Savyon Liebrecht, Sami Michael, Yaakov Shabtai, Meir Shalev, and Zeruya Shalev.
Contemporary Israeli authors whose works have been translated into other languages and attained international recognition are Ephraim Kishon, Yaakov Shabtai, A. B. Yehoshua, Amos Oz, Irit Linur, Etgar Keret and Yehoshua Sobol.
Hebrew poets include David Avidan, Maya Bejerano, Erez Biton, Dan Pagis, Dalia Ravikovitch, Ronny Someck, Meir Wieseltier, and Yona Wallach.
Today thousands of new books are published in Hebrew each year, both translations from other languages and original works by Israeli authors.
Read more about this topic: Hebrew Literature
Famous quotes containing the words contemporary, hebrew and/or literature:
“The contemporary thing in art and literature is the thing which doesn’t make enough difference to the people of that generation so that they can accept it or reject it.”
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)
“Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed.”
—Bible: Hebrew Job 38:11.
God speaking to Job of his laying of his “foundations of the earth.”
“A book is not an autonomous entity: it is a relation, an axis of innumerable relations. One literature differs from another, be it earlier or later, not because of the texts but because of the way they are read: if I could read any page from the present time—this one, for instance—as it will be read in the year 2000, I would know what the literature of the year 2000 would be like.”
—Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986)