"Till Spring Comes": Arabic and Hebrew Literary Debates among Iraqi-Jews in Israel (1950-2000)1

Snir, Reuven, Shofar

In modern times Iraqi Jews, writing in Arabic, were producing literary works that quickly became part of the mainstream of modern Arabic literature. Following the establishment of the state of Israel, many Iraqi-Jewish intellectuals, poets, and writers emigrated to the new state. On their arrival in Israel they faced a new linguistic situation in which the language (Hebrew) imposed upon them was limited to a single religion, a single nation, and a single ethnic entity, as opposed to the situation in Iraq, where Arab cultural and national identity encompassed Jews together with Muslims and Christians. Advocates of Western-orientated cultural identity also bewailed the "danger" of the …

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Publication information: Article title: "Till Spring Comes": Arabic and Hebrew Literary Debates among Iraqi-Jews in Israel (1950-2000)1. Contributors: Snir, Reuven - Author. Journal title: Shofar. Volume: 24. Issue: 2 Publication date: Winter 2006. Page number: 92+. © Not available. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All Rights Reserved.

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