A New Sound in Hebrew Poetry
ISBN: 9780253003584
Platform/Publisher: Project MUSE / Indiana University Press
Digital rights: Users: Unlimited; Printing: Chapters; Download: Chapters
Subjects: Hebrew language; Hebrew poetry Modern; Hebrew language;

With scrupulous attention to landmark poetic texts and to educational and critical discourse in early 20th-century Palestine, Miryam Segal traces the emergence of a new accent to replace the Ashkenazic or European Hebrew accent in which almost all modern Hebrew poetry had been composed until the 1920s. Segal takes into account the broad historical, ideological, and political context of this shift, including the construction of a national language, culture, and literary canon; the crucial role of schools; the influence of Zionism; and the leading role played by women poets in introducing the new accent. This meticulous and sophisticated yet readable study provides surprising new insights into the emergence of modern Hebrew poetry and the revival of the Hebrew language in the Land of Israel.


Miryam Segal is Assistant Professor in the Department of Classical, Middle Eastern, and Asian Languages and Cultures at Queens College, The City University of New York.

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