The Literary Work of A.B. Yehoshua, Amos Oz, David Grossman, Yoram Kaniuk, Benjamin Tammuz and Zeruya Shalev in Israeli Cinema

This presentation draws on Dr. Hanna David's experience teaching the university course "The Literary Work of A.B. Yehoshua, Amos Oz, David Grossman, Yoram Kaniuk, Benjamin Tammuz and Zeruya Shalev in Israeli Cinema" at the University of Klagenfurt, Austria, where it was taught as a Blockseminar to master's students during the summer of 2012.

Rather than presenting a previously published research article, the session reflects on an actual university teaching experience in Hebrew literature and Israeli culture. It examines how students encountered major modern Hebrew and Israeli writers through a combination of literary reading, classroom discussion, and the collective viewing and analysis of films based on their works.

The authors considered in the course — A.B. Yehoshua, Amos Oz, David Grossman, Yoram Kaniuk, Benjamin Tammuz, and Zeruya Shalev — represent several of the most influential voices in modern Israeli literature. Their works provide a rich framework for exploring Israeli society, identity, memory, family, conflict, language, and cultural transformation.

A central aspect of the presentation concerns the pedagogical process itself: how students who were approaching Hebrew and Israeli literature within a foreign-language academic environment gradually became acquainted with major Hebrew authors through both written literature and cinematic adaptation.

The session will also reflect on student responses and evaluations following the course and on the relationship between the instructor's intentions and the students' experience of the learning process.

This makes the presentation particularly relevant not only to scholars of modern Hebrew and Israeli literature, but also to university teachers and instructors involved in Hebrew-language teaching, Hebrew literature, Jewish studies, Israeli studies, comparative literature, literary translation, cultural studies, or the teaching of literature through film.

For teachers of Hebrew as a foreign language and instructors of any form of Hebrew literature, the presentation offers a concrete case study in how literary texts, translation, visual media, discussion, and cinema can be combined to create a broader encounter with Hebrew language and culture.

Because many participants in the EHJ conference teach at universities, seminaries, language programmes, and other higher-education institutions, the presentation also opens a wider discussion about the relationship between scholarship and teaching: what happens when research expertise is transformed into a classroom experience, how students encounter unfamiliar literary traditions, and what instructors can learn from the students' responses to that process.

Dr. David's presentation explores a pedagogical model in which students encounter major Israeli authors through two interconnected media: the literary work itself and cinematic adaptations and representations connected with those works. This approach creates opportunities to discuss narrative, language, cultural context, interpretation, adaptation, and the ways Israeli literature is transmitted to students who may not share the linguistic and cultural background of its original readership.

The integration of film provides a complementary medium through which students can engage with complex literary narratives, examine how cinematic directors interpret literary texts, and reflect on the relationship between literature and visual representation. This creates a richer understanding of both the literary works and their cultural significance within Israeli society.

Dr. Hanna David is affiliated with the Hebrew Literature Research Institute, Faculty of Humanities, Tel Aviv University, where she holds emeritus status. Her academic background crosses Hebrew literature, education, psychology, and pedagogy, reflecting an unusual combination of literary scholarship and long-term engagement with teaching and educational methodology.

She began her higher education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, studying mathematics, physics, Hebrew literature, and teacher education. She subsequently received a master's degree from the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York. She received her PhD magna cum laude from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, with work in educational psychology and related educational disciplines.

Her career has included research and teaching in Israel and internationally. She has published extensively in Hebrew, English, German, and French in areas including education, giftedness, psychology, Hebrew literature, Jewish cultural studies, and related interdisciplinary fields.

Dr. Hanna David taught at the University of Klagenfurt, Austria, during 2011–2012 in the fields of literature and education. Among the courses she taught there was "The Literary Work of A.B. Yehoshua, Amos Oz, David Grossman, Yoram Kaniuk, Benjamin Tammuz and Zeruya Shalev in Israeli Cinema."

The course was taught as an intensive Blockseminar to master's students and forms the experiential basis of her EHJ 2026 conference presentation. The presentation is therefore based on a documented university teaching experience rather than a previously published article.