The Lady of Hebrew and Her Lovers of Zion

A number of major nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Hebrew authors had an immense influence on their audience. They also played a key role in the evolution of the modern Hebrew language and the emergence of Zionism as a historic force in Jewish life. Yet Hebrew novelists, essayists, and poets like Josef Perl, Peretz Smolenskin, Ahad Ha'am, Micha Yosef Berdichevsky, Chaim Nachman Bialik, Rahel, Yosef Chaim Brenner, and S. Y. Agnon are far from being of only historical significance. All were highly accomplished writers who owe their place in the pantheon of Hebrew literature to the skill, depth, and power of their work. It is impossible to fully understand the modern Jewish experience, or the issues of Jewish identity that continue to roil Israel and the Diaspora, without a knowledge of them. In The Lady of Hebrew and Her Lovers of Zion, acclaimed writer and master translator Hillel Halkin offers a captivating glimpse into the lives of these authors and their writing in an unusual book that is a work of literary criticism, intellectual history, virtuoso translation, and personal reflection all in one. Book jacket.