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HEBRG039 Graduate Feminist Issues in Israeli Women's Writing

Course Code:	HEBRG039
Tutor:	Dr Tsila Ratner
Mode of assessment:	Two 2,500 word essays
Taught:	In term 2 only
Classes:	Thursdays, 0900-1100 in Cruciform B.3.05

Gender and feminism as critical categories for the exploration of social and cultural power structures have emerged in Israel only in the eighties. A testament to this late arrival of feminist awareness is the Hebrew word for gender to differentiate from sex, מיגדר, was coined only in the mid nineties by a group of women academics.

Relations between domination/subjugation, equality and inequality characterize several of the major social and political intersections in Israel and shape its reality. Israeli society was constituted in the spirit of the Zionist revolution that aspired to create a new model of Jew. This new model Jew was male, pioneer, farmer and fighter, thus excluding other alternative models and creating a hierarchical order whereby the latter are positioned in the margins. The 'melting pot' ideology, initiated to counter social and cultural fragmentation of a multi-cultural migrant society, has deepened the hierarchical structure, subduing and silencing alternative voices and erecting clear boundaries between centre and margins. The political order that followed this configuration has shaped tensions between republican and liberal citizenship relating mainly to Jewish governing dominance, and non-Jewish, mainly Palestinian, minorities. The continuous state of war has placed security and militarism at the centre of Israeli discourse thus overshadowing civil concerns. Each one of these intersections has a profound impact on the state's gender order which is quite often subjugated and silenced by them.

Israeli feminists like their counterparts elsewhere analyze, expose and challenge the mechanisms of political/social powers. In addition to these global objectives Israeli feminists face particular struggles when they challenge gender bias and inequality in the initial, pre-state claim for women equality, amidst war threats, heightened militarism and deepening religiousness.

The position of women has been the subject of Jewish/Israeli women writers since the emergence of Modern Hebrew literature in the 19th century. Although marginalized by the literary canon until the eighties, women writers voiced their defiance in various ways. Whether located in a traditional or secular social context, pre-state or the present, in Israel or the Diaspora, women's writing has provided sharp critique and insights into women's lives and the social order that governs them. The mutual feeding of feminist scholarship, literature and politics since the mid eighties has led to an increasing volume of influential literary production whose impact has spread beyond the literary scene.

The course will look at Israeli women's writing from a feminist perspective and will focus on the following topics corresponding to the social/political intersections mentioned above:

• Writing woman / Writing the body
• The position of women in the family
• Women's coming of age (Bildungsroman) narratives
• Voices of orthodox women
• National women
• Rewriting the national
• Women and the Arab/Israeli conflict

Literary texts

Writing woman / Writing the body

Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen)	*'The Blank Page', in Last Tales, Penguin Books, 2001, pp.99-106
Devora Baron	The 'Thorny Path', pp.208-252, in Dvora Baron, The Thorny Path, trans.J. Shachter, Israel Universities Press, 1969, pp.208-252
Dorit Rabinyan	1995, Omerijan, Am Oved [Hebrew] 1998 Persian Brides, Edinburgh: Canongate
Nurith Zarhi	*1993, Madame Bovary in Neveh Tsedek, in Oman Hamasechot, Zmora Bitan [Hebrew] Trans. - in M. Glazer, 2000

In the Family:

Yaakov Steinberg	*'The Blind Woman', translated from Kol Kitvey Yaakov Steinberg, Tel-Aviv: Dvir, (Hebrew) --- trans. - handout
Devora Baron	*1975, 'Fradel' and selection of stories, in Parshiot, Tel-Aviv: Hakibbutz Hameuchad (Hebrew) English Translations: 'Family' pp. 1-37; The 'Thorny Path', pp.208-252, in Dvora Baron, The Thorny Path, trans.J. Shachter, Israel Universities Press, 1969
Savyon Liebrecht	*1986, Apples from the Desert; in Tapuhim min Hamidbar (Apples from the Desert), Tel-Aviv: Sifriat Poalim Apples from the Desert, 1998, Loki Books

Women's Bildungsroman:

Ruth Almog	*1993, 'Invisible Mending', in Invisible Mending, 7-20, Keter [Hebrew] trans. Invisible Mending, 2000, pp. 33-49
Amalia Kahana-Carmon	*1971, 'Nima Sasoon Writes Poems', 'Bridal Veil' in Bichfifa Achat (Under One Roof), Tel-Aviv: Hakibbutz Hameuchad trans. - hand-out
Yehudit Katzir	*1990, 'Closing the Sea', in Sogrim et Hayam, Hakibbutz Hameuchad [Hebrew] 2006, Closing the Sea, Toby Press
Alona Kimhi	1999, Weeping Susannah, The Harvill Press

Voices of Orthodox Women:

Hannah Bat-Shahar	*1990, 'Among the Geranium Pots', in Likro La’atalefim, Jerusalem: Keter Trans. in R. Domb's, 1996
Haya Esther	*1998, 'Nechama Gittle', in Soft Stones, Hakibbutz Hameuchad [Hebrew] Trans. - in Risa Domb, 1966
Mira Magen	*'Gerbera Daisies at Half Price' in Well Buttoned-Up, Keter [Hebrew] Trans. in M. Glazer, 200

National Women

Shulamit Lapid	1982, Gai Oni, Keter, [Hebrew] Valley of Strength, Toby Press, 2009
Savyon Liebrecht	1988, 'Written in Stone' in Horses on the Highway, Sifriat Poalim [Hebrew] 1998, trans, in Apples from the Desert, Loki Books
Dalia Ravikovitch	1997, 'A Small Delay' in Winnie Mandela's Football Team, Hakibbutz Hameuchad [Hebrew] 1994, trans. in Diament and Ratok

Rewriting the National

Orly Castel Bloom	*1993, Selection from Sipurim Bilti Retzonim (Involuntry Stories), Tel-Aviv: Zmora Bitan trans. - handout 1992, Dolly City, Am Oved [Hebrew] 1997, trans. Dolly City, Loki Books
Ronit Matalon	1992, The One Facing Us, Am Oved [Hebrew] trans. 1998, Henry Holt & Co.,
Michal Bat-Adam	(1989) Film – ‘The Thousand Wives of Naftali Siman-Tov’ (based on the novella by Dan Bnaya Seri, in Ziporey Hazel (Birds of the Shadows), 1987, Jerusalem: Keter

Women and the Arab/Israeli Conflict

Shulamit Hareven	1972, Ir Yamim Rabim, Am Oved [Hebrew] 1993, City of Many days, Mercury 1992, Twilight, San Francisco: Mercury House
Savyon Liebrecht	'Room on the Roof', 'The Road to Cedar City' in Apples from the Desert, 1998, Loki Books: London
Dalia Ravikovitch	*2009, Hovering at Low Altitude: The Collected Poetry of Dalia Ravikovitch, W.W. Norton

* Translations into English will be available as handouts/Moodle.

Anthologies of Literary Texts:

Carol Diament & Lily Ratok (eds)	1994, Ribcage: Israeli Women’s Writing, New York: Hadassa
Risa Domb (ed.)	1996, New Women’s Writing from Israel, London: Vallentine Mitchell
Miriyam Glazer (ed.)	2000, Dreaming The Actual: Contemporary Fiction and Poetry by Israeli Women Writers, State University of New York Press
Esther Raizen	1996, No Rattling of Sabres: An Anthology of Israeli War Poetry, Austin: University of Texas Press
Lily Ratok (ed)	1994, The Other Voice: Hebrew Women’s Fiction, Tel-Aviv: Hakibbutz Hameuchad (Hebrew

Critical Texts:

Azmon Yael (ed)	1995, A View into the Lives of Women in Jewish Societies, Jerusalem: Zalman Shazar Centre (Hebrew) 1997, “War, Mothers and a Girl with Braides: Involvement of Mothers’ Peace Movement in the National Disciourse in Israel”, Israel Social Science Research, 12 (1), pp. 109-129 (ed.) 2001, Hatishma Koli [Will You Listen to My Voice? Representations of Women in Israeli Culture], Tel Aviv: Van Lir and hakibbutz Hameuchad [Hebrew]
Azmon Yael & Dafna Izraeli	1993, Women in Israel: Studies of Israeli Society, V. 6, U.S: Transaction Publishers
Beer Gillian	1989, “Representing Women: Re-presenting the Past”. In Catherine Belsey and Jane Moore (eds.), The Feminist Reader, New-York: Blackwell, pp. 63-80
Benstock Shari (ed)	1988, Theory and Practice of Women’s Autobiographical Writings, London: Routledge
Berman Emanuel (ed)	1993, Essential Papers on Literature and Psychoanalysis, New York University Press
Bernstein Deborah (ed)	1992, Pioneers and Homemakers: Jewish Women in Pre-State Palestine, Albany: State University of New York
Bhabha Homi	1994, The Location of Culture, London: Routledge 1990, Nation and Narration, London: Routledge
Biale Rachel	1984, Women and Jewish Law, New-York: Schocken Books
Bonner Frances et al. (eds)	1992, Imagining Women: Cultural Representations and Gender, Cambridge: Polity Press
Bordo R. Susan	1990, “ The Body and the Reproduction of Femininity: A Feminist Approach of Foucault", in A. Jaggar and S. Bordo (eds), Gender/Body/Knowledge, New Bunswick: Rutegers University Press 1993, Unbearable Weight: Feminism, Western Culture and the Body, Berkeley: University of California Press
Butler Judith	1990, Feminism and the Subversion of Identity, London: Routledge
Chodrov Nancy	1979, The Reproduction of Mothering: Psychoanalysis and the Sociology of Gender, California University Press 1989, Feminism and Psychoanalytic Theory, Yale University Press
Dahan-Kalev Henritte	1997, “The Oppression of Women by Other Women: Relations and the Struggle Between Mizrahi and Ashkenazi Women in Israel", Israel Social Science Research 12 (1): 31-44
Dworkin Andrea	2000, Scapegoat: The Jews, Israel and Women’s Liberation, London: Virago Press
El-Or Tamar	1993, Educated and Ignorant: Learning in the Lives of Ultraorthodox Jewish Women, New York: Lynne Rienner Publishers 2002, Next Year I Will Know More: Literacy and Identity Among Young Orthodox Women in Israel, Wayne State University Press
Eagleton Mary	1986, Feminist Literary Theory – A reader, Cambridge: Blackwell
Feldman Yael	1999, No Room of their Own: Gender and Nation in Israeli Women’s Fiction, New York: Columbia University Press
Fogiel-Bijaoui Sylvie	1992, “Women in Israel: The Social Construction of Citizenship as Non-Issue”, in Israel Social Science Research 12 (1)
Fuchs Esther	1987, Israeli Mythogynies: Women in Contemporary Hebrew Fiction, New York: State University of New York Press (ed.) 2005, Israeli Women’s Studies: A Reader, New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press
Glazer Miriyam	2000, Dreaming the Actual: Contemporary Fiction and Poetry by Israeli Women Writers, New York: State University of New York Press
Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar	1984, The Madwoman in the Attic, Yale University Press, pp. 45-92; 539-580
Gluzman Michael	1991, “The Exclusion of Women from Hebrew Literary History, in Prooftexts, No 3, pp. 259-278
Gluzman Michael & Naomi Seidman (eds)	1997, Israel: A Traveler’s Literary Companion, U.S.: Whereabout Press
Grosz Elizabeth	1994, Volatile Bodies, Indiana University Press
Harris Adrienne & Ynestra King (eds)	1989, Rocking the Ship of State, Westview Press
Heibrum Carolyn	1991, Hamlet’s Mother and Other Women, London: The Women’s Press, pp. 58-98
Hirsch Marianne	1989, The Mother/Daughter Plot, Indiana University Press
Izraeli Dafna and others	1999 Sex, Gender, Politics, Tel-Aviv: hakibbutz Hameuchad (Hebrew)
Izraeli Dafna & Ariella Friedman	1982, The Double Bind: Women in Israel, Tel-Aviv: Hakibbutz Hameuchad (Hebrew)
Jackson Rosemary	1981, Fantasy The Literature of Subversion, London: Methuen
Lubin Orly	2003, Isha Koret Isha [Women Reading Women], Haifa University Press and Zemora-Bitan (Hebrew)
Millet Kate	1969, Sexual Politics, New York: Simon & Schuster
Miller K.Nancy	1988, Subject to Change, New York: Columbia University Press
Mintz Alan (ed)	1997, The Boom: Contemporary Israeli Fiction, Hanover & London: Israeli
Naveh Hannah (ed)	2003, Gender and Israeli Society: Women’s Time, 2 volumes, London: Vallentine and Mitchell
Parush Iris	2004, Reading Jewish Women: Marginality and Modernization in 19th Century Eastern European Jewish Society, Boston: University Press of New England
Price Janet & Margit Shildrick (ed)	1999, Feminist Theory and the Body, New-York: Routledge, pp.359-370
Ratner (Abramovitz) Tsila	2003, “Discourses of negotiations: The Writing of orthodox Women” in H. Naveh (ed) Gender and Israeli Society, London: Vallentine Mitchell, pp. 139-168
Rich Adrienne	1997, Of Woman Born, London: Virago Press
Robinson Victoria & Diane Richardson (eds)	1997, Introducing Women’s Studies, London: Macmillan, pp.98-124; 125-152
Rudavsky Tamar (ed)	1995, Gender and Judaism, New-York: New-York University Press
Starr Sered Susan	2000, What Makes Women Sick? Maternity, Modesty and Militarism In Israeli Society, Brandeis University Press
Shirav Penina	1998, Non Innocent Writing, Tel-Aviv: hakibbutz Hameuchad (Hebrew)
Shorwalter Elaine	1986, The New Feminist Criticism, London: Virago
Spivak Gayatri Chakravorky	1988, In Other Worlds, New York: Routledge, pp. 30- 45
Barbara Swirsky & Marilyn Safir (ed)	1991, Calling the Equality Bluff: Women in Israel, New York: Pergamon
Weiss Meira	2005, The Chosen Body: The Politics of the Body in Israeli Society, Stanford University Press
Yuval-Davis Nira	1997, Gender and Nation, London: Sage Publications

Assessment:

One essay of 6,000 words; deadline: 23 April 2012 Oral presentation of research in graduates' seminar sessions

Essay Titles: All essays have to include works that were not discussed in class.

• Relationship between body and writing
• Female Bildungsroman
• Subverting the patriarchal / national motherhood
• Internalized exclusion
• Private / public dichotomies
• History vs. her-story
• Crossing ethnic boundaries
• Women in religious communities