Until fairly recently, Israeli literature was understood as essentially monolingual, created exclusively in Hebrew. In the last few years, scholars have turned their attention to the many languages in which literature was, and still is written in Israel. The symposium will bring Institute fellows and leading scholars to explore Israel literature written in Yiddish, Arabic, German, Russian, and English, as well as the interplay between these languages and Hebrew. The speakers will explore issues such as translation and self-translation, the politics of language in literature, and the historical shifts that enabled or restricted inter-linguistic contacts.

10:40 am—12:30 pm: Session 1: Multilingual Encounters and Dialogues
Chair and Respondent: Liora Halperin, University of Boulder

Shachar Pinsker, University of Michigan: Between “Loshn-Mame-Koydesh” and the Father Tongue? Israeli-Yiddish Encounters
Adriana X. Jacobs, University of Oxford: Like a Centipede, Multiple Voices: Harold Schimmel’s Translingual Poetry
Alex Moshkin, University of Pennsylvania: Beyond the Wall: The Encounter between Russophone Writers and the State of Israel
Yael Kenan, University of Michigan: “Dialogue in Monologue”: Addressing Mahmoud Darwish in Hebrew


1:30 pm – 3:00 pm: Session II: Between Original and Translation: Rewriting Israeli Literature
Chair and Moderator: Joshua Miller, University of Michigan

Maya Barzilai, University of Michigan
Naomi Brenner, Ohio State University
Rachel Seelig, University of Chicago


3:30 pm—5:30 pm: Session III: Keywords in Multilingualism and Israeli Literature
Chair and Moderator: Shachar Pinsker, University of Michigan

Lital Levy, Princeton University: "Multilingualism, Transnationalism, and World Literature: Theoretical Frameworks for Israeli Literary Studies"

Roundtable Discussion
Maya Barzilai, Naomi Brenner, Adriana Jacobs, Yael Kenan, Lital Levy, Alex Moshkin, Rachel Seelig