Yale University, United States
Prof. Dr. Hannan Hever
Jacob and Hilda Blaustein Professor of Hebrew Language and Literature and Comparative Literature
Department of Comparative Literature
Program in Judaic Studies
Official University Profile: Yale University – Hannan Hever
Expertise: Modern Hebrew Literature; Hebrew Poetry; Comparative Literature; Jewish Literature; Literary Theory; Postcolonial Theory; Cultural History; Zionism; Hebrew Intellectual History; Hasidism; Haskalah.
CURRICULUM VITAE
Academic Profile
Prof. Dr. Hannan Hever is Jacob and Hilda Blaustein Professor of Hebrew Language and Literature and Comparative Literature at Yale University. Before joining Yale in 2013, he taught for many years at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv University, and has also held visiting appointments at Columbia University, Northwestern University, and the University of Michigan.
He is internationally recognized as one of the leading scholars of modern Hebrew literature and literary theory. His research examines Hebrew literature from the nineteenth century to the present through the perspectives of cultural history, postcolonial theory, nationalism, political thought, and comparative literature.
Prof. Hever’s publications have significantly influenced the study of Hebrew literary history by introducing new approaches to the relationship between literature, politics, identity, memory, and national culture. His scholarship also explores the literary traditions of Hasidism, the Jewish Enlightenment (Haskalah), and Zionism.
QUALIFICATIONS
1979
B.A. in Hebrew Literature and Philosophy, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
1984
Ph.D. in Hebrew Literature, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
1986–1987
Postdoctoral Research in Intellectual History, University of California, Berkeley.
ACADEMIC POSITIONS AND APPOINTMENTS
Professor, Yale University.
Jacob and Hilda Blaustein Professor of Hebrew Language and Literature and Comparative Literature.
Director of Undergraduate Studies, Program in Judaic Studies.
Professor of Hebrew Literature, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Professor of Hebrew Literature, Tel Aviv University.
Senior Fellow, Van Leer Jerusalem Institute.
Visiting Professor, Columbia University.
Visiting Professor, Northwestern University.
Visiting Professor, University of Michigan.
RESEARCH
Prof. Hever’s research focuses on the cultural history of modern Hebrew literature, Hebrew poetry, literary politics, nationalism, and postcolonial criticism. His work examines how literature participates in the formation of collective identity and how political and historical events shape literary production.
A major aspect of his scholarship investigates the literary representation of the 1948 War, Zionism, the Hebrew canon, and the interaction between literature and national ideology. He has also written extensively on Hasidism, the Haskalah, trauma, violence, and cultural memory.
His interdisciplinary approach combines literary criticism, intellectual history, political theory, cultural studies, and comparative literature.
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Modern Hebrew Literature
Hebrew Poetry
Comparative Literature
Jewish Literature
Literary Theory
Postcolonial Theory
Cultural History
Political Criticism
Nationalism
Hebrew Intellectual History
Hasidism
Haskalah
Zionism
Trauma and Memory Studies
ACADEMIC LEADERSHIP
Jacob and Hilda Blaustein Professor, Yale University.
Senior Fellow, Van Leer Jerusalem Institute.
Former Chair, Department of Hebrew Literature, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Member of numerous international editorial and advisory boards in Hebrew and Jewish Studies.
PUBLICATIONS
Selected Publications
Producing the Modern Hebrew Canon: Nation Building and Minority Discourse. New York University Press, 2002.
The Narrative and the Nation: Readings in the Canon of Modern Hebrew Fiction.
The Politics of Trauma in Israeli Literature.
Hebrew Literature and the 1948 War: Essays on Philology and Responsibility. Brill, 2019.
Hasidism, Haskalah, Zionism: Chapters in Literary Politics. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2023.
With the Power of God: Theology and Politics in Modern Hebrew Literature.
To Inherit the Land, to Conquer the Space: The Beginning of Hebrew Poetry in Eretz-Israel.
Numerous articles on modern Hebrew literature, literary theory, nationalism, postcolonial criticism, cultural history, and Jewish intellectual history published in leading international journals and edited volumes.