Yonatan Ratosh - Literary Career and Canaanite Movement

Literary Career and Canaanite Movement

Adopting the pseudonym of Yonatan Ratosh, he began to write poetry that "tore apart" (Hebrew: ריטש - riṭṭêš) existing conventions of style, language, and culture. In 1939, he founded the Canaanite movement, which rejected both religion and Jewish nationalism. This group promoted the theory of a shared cultural heritage for the entire Middle East. The literary output of the movement was strongly influenced by an ancient, pre-biblical mythology and vocabulary. Ratosh's own work is closely linked to the movement's political theory. His early poems are very structured, and play with rhyme and repetition to create an almost hypnotic effect. His later work employs colloquial diction and more contemporary style. While the movement founded by Ratosh was never broad, T. Carmi wrote that "its emphasis on myth and its stylistic mannerisms had considerable impact on contemporary poetry."

In an essay entitled "Ketav el ha-No'ar ha-'Ivri" (כתב אל הנער העברי, "Epistle to the Hebrew Youth") from 1943, Heilperin/Ratosh presented his new ideas to the Hebrew-speaking public. This and other essays called for the community of the Yishuv to divorce themselves from their Jewish roots and embrace a new identity as "Hebrews". The "Young Hebrews" became known as the Canaanites, a mocking name coined by Haaretz editor Avraham Shlonsky.

In 1950, Ratosh founded and co-edited the literary journal Alef which published translations of the work of Stendhal, Camus, Shaw and O'Neill. Ratosh continued publishing poetry and enjoyed a brief renaissance as an ideologue after the Six Day War. His political philosophy had an impact across the political spectrum: sharing the Right's irredentism and advocating a secular (in lieu of Jewish) state like post-Zionists, particularly radical peace advocate Uri Avnery. His last poem in book form was Hava ("Eve"), published in 1963. In it, he reinterprets the story of the Garden of Eden as the coronation of a Rain God.