On Revival: Hebrew Literature between Life and Death

Roni Henig's recent book, On Revival: Hebrew Literature between Life and Death (UPenn Press, 2025), is a critique of one of the most important tenets of Zionist thinking: “Hebrew revival,” or the idea that Hebrew—a largely unspoken language before the twentieth century—was revitalized as part of a broader national “revival” which ultimately led to the establishment of the Israeli nation-state. This story of language revival has been commemorated in Israeli popular memory and in Jewish historiography as a triumphant transformation narrative that marks the success of the Zionist revolution. But a closer look at the work of early twentieth-century Hebrew writers reveals different sentiments. The book explores the loaded, figurative discourse of 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. The event is a workshop-style discussion of the book with the author. Chapters will be circulated ahead of the event.