This book observes and critiques controversies on the genesis and the character of Israeli Hebrew. Did it emerge through revival? Did Ben-Yehuda play a role in it? Is Hebrew a normal language now? The hegemonic ideology of the revival of Hebrew is shown to have been harmonious with various Zionist streams, as well as with its rival, Canaanism. The effects of revivalism are evaluated, and an argument is made in favor of non-revivalist alternatives in linguistics and in language education.

Book targets the nation language as its object of investigation, focusing on the case of Hebrew in Israel. It strives to illuminate some of the processes by which Zionist movement, came to attach importance to the revival of the ancient Hebrew.

"This Very Short Introduction discloses a history of Zionism from the origins of modern Jewish nationalism in the 1870's to the present. Michael Stanislawski provides a lucid and detached analysis of Zionism, focusing on its internal intellectual and ideological developments and divides"--

Calling into question prevailing notions about Orientalism, Yaron Peleg shows how the paradoxical mixture of exoticism and familiarity with which Jews related to Palestine at the beginning of the twentieth century shaped the legacy of Zionism. In Peleg's view, the tension between romancing the East and colonizing it inspired a revolutionary reform that radically changed Jewish thought during the Hebrew Revival that took place between 1900 and 1930. Orientalism and the Hebrew Imagination introduces a fresh voice to the contentious debate over the concept of Orientalism. Zionism has often been labeled a Western colonial movement that sought to displace and silence Palestinian Arabs. Based on his readings of key texts, Peleg asserts that early Zionists were inspired by Palestinian Arab culture, which in turn helped mold modern Jewish gender, identity, and culture. Peleg begins with the new ways in which the lands of the Bible are formulated as a modern "Orient" in David Frishman's Bamidbar. He continues by showing how in The Sons of Arabia, Moshe Smilansky laid the basis for the literary construction of the "New Jew," modeled after Palestinian Arabs. Peleg concludes with a discussion of L. A. Arielli's 1913 play Allah Karim! in which both the promise and the problems of the Land of Israel as "Orient" marked the end of Hebrew Orientalism as a viable cultural option.

First Published in 1987. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.