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Cambridge Forum for Jewish Studies

 

This study examines the role which Hebrew, Israeli literature plays today in the life of the country after the postmodern or post-national age in what can perhaps be termed a neo-national age.

The study is a continuation of previous work that Dr Peleg published on Israeli literature and culture between the two intifadas, 1987-2000. The study focuses on a group of writers who grapple with their roles as so-called prophets in new and different ways in the twenty first century.

On the one hand, these writers do not assume the traditional role of the author as a self appointed and self-aware social critic, that has signaled modern Hebrew literature from its inception. They do not relate directly to questions of national import and do not engage directly with what has been called the Zionist meta-narrative.

On the other hand, they are reluctant to focus on western-style individualism as a solution to some of the complexities of life in Israel, as many of their predecessors from the 1990s did. Their attempt to renegotiate collective and individual concerns are the focus of this project.