Description:

Faculty and Grad Student Colloquim:

"On Revival: Hebrew Literature between Life and Death," with Roni Henig, New York University

The talk will focus on Henig's recent book, On Revival: Hebrew Literature between Life and Death, a critique of the discourse of language revival in modern Hebrew literature. Rather than embracing “revival” as a neutral, descriptive term, Henig takes a critical approach, employing close readings of canonical texts to analyze the primary tropes used to articulate this aesthetic and political project of “reviving” Hebrew. This approach will be demonstrated through a discussion of the work of the national Hebrew poet Hayim Nahman Bialik.

Roni Henig is an Assistant Professor of Modern Hebrew Literature in the Skirball department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies at NYU. She researches modern Hebrew literature and Jewish literatures in a comparative context. Her book, On Revival: Hebrew Literature between Life and Death (UPenn press, 2025), offers a critique of the discourse of language revival in modern Hebrew literature. Her articles appeared in journals such as Comparative Literature Studies, The Yearbook of Comparative Literature, and Dibur Literary Journal. Her work has been awarded the Aldridge Prize by the American Comparative Literature Association and the Baron prize by Columbia University.