Prof. Nurit Govrin, Department of Hebrew Literature


Short Curriculum Vitae (highlights):

Born in Tel Aviv, 1935; married, with 3 children and 8 grandchildren.
Served in the Israel Defence forces; was a kibbutz member; completed studies at Tel Aviv University with exceptional distinction; post-doctoral studies at Harvard; has filled academic and administrative roles at the University and outside it. Member of many academic and public committees; judge for many literary prizes; has been Visiting Professor at universities in the U.S.A., including UCLA; HUC and Columbia, N.Y.; University of Austin, Texas; and at Oxford University, England; is a regular participant at many international conferences and in guest lectures at universities throughout the world (Egypt, Japan, Poland, the U.S.S.R., Hungary, Finland, Czechoslovakia, Spain, Italy, Brazil); Visiting Scholar in China, twice (Beijing University, 1992; Nanjing University, 1996); Australia (1999); Washington Dc. (1999-2000).


Major publications (books and major articles):

Books (in Hebrew; asterisk = English translation)

A Present of Literature, Institute for the Study of Zionism, Tel Aviv University, and Ekked Press, 1973.

Circles, Massada and the Writers' Association, Tel Aviv, 1973 (on M.I. Berdichevski, G. Shofman and Dvora Baron).

Keys, Tel Aviv University and Hakibbutz Hameuchad, 1978 (on Y.H. Brenner, Y. Rabinovitz, G. Shofman, H. Hazaz, D. Baron and others).

"Ha-Omer": The Birth and Demise of a Periodical, Yad Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, 1980.

Roots and Tops: The Imprint of the First Aliya on Hebrew Literature, Papyrus and Tel Aviv University, 1981.

From Horizon to Horizon: The Life and Work of G. Shofman, Tel Aviv University and Yahdav, 2 vols., 1982,

Alienation and Regeneration: Hebrew Fiction in the Diaspora and Eretz-Israel in the Early Twentieth Century, Ministry of Defense, 1985.*

"The Brenner Affair": The Fight for Free Speech, Yad Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, 1985.

The Literature of Eretz-Israel in the Early Days of the Settlements, Dept. of Education and Culture in the Diaspora of the World Zionist Organization, Jerusalem, 1985.

The First Half: The Life and Work of Dvora Baron, 1888-1923, Bialik Institute, Jerusalem, 1988.

Honey from the Rock: Studies on the Literature of Eretz-Israel, Ministry of Defense, 1989. 419 pp.

Brenner: "Nonplussed" and Mentor, Ministry of Defense and Tel Aviv University School of Jewish Studies, 1991.

Burning: Poetry on Brenner, Ministry of Defense Tel Aviv University School of Jewish Studies, 1995.

Literary Geography. Lands and Landmarks on the Map of Hebrew Literature. Carmel Press, 1998

Has also published hundreds of articles in scholarly journals and periodicals in Israel and abroad, and edited thirteen books and anthologies, for which she has written introductions and appendixes.


Teaches in the following subject areas:

Hebrew literature of the past one hundred years in Eretz-Israel and Eastern Europe;
Eretz-Israel literature since the First Aliya; Hebrew literary periodicals; reciprocal relationships between history and literature; the characters of authors and literary protagonists; the history of Hebrew literary criticism, the "uprooted" Jewish character in Hebrew literature; the October Revolution and its reflection in Hebrew literature.
Teaches the following courses in the current year:

Hebrew Literature at the Beginning of the 20th Century; Tel Aviv in Hebrew Literature; The "Old Yishuv" in Modern Hebrew Literature; Literary Periodicals as Literary Centers; Literary Geography; Jewish-Arab Relations as Reflected in Hebrew Literature


Awards and grants :

Has received numerous awards and grants, including the Rothschild Foundation post-graduate scholarship (1973-74); research grants from the Israel National Academy for Science and Humanities (1975-78), the Jewish Memorial Fund (1982),
the Israel Matz Fund (1982, 1984-85, 1986, 1989), the American Academy for Jewish Studies (1984-85, 1989), the Histadrut Dept. of Higher Education (1985, 1989); the Haifa Municipality Avraham Kariv Prize (1993); the Shalom Aleichem Prize (1996); The Creative Woman Prize, Wizo Prize 1998; Bialik Prize 1998.


Areas of current research interest:

Literary geography - how literature expresses various places in Israel and abroad; descriptions of Tel Aviv in Hebrew literature; M.Y. Berdichevsky. Literature and Memory; Literature and History; Literature and Holocaust; Literature and Society.


Additional points of contact (office/home telephone, fax,etc.):

Office phone: 972-3-6409613
Office fax: 972-3-6407031