Customer Reviews

The Defiant Muse: Hebrew Feminist Poems from Antiquity: A Bilingual Anthology (The Defiant Muse Series) (Hebrew Edition)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is an impressive collection of known works and newly discovered feminist pieces in their original Hebrew and in stunning translations. Biblical and rabbinic literature is culled for feminist voices; midieval literature from around the world is mined; 20th century Hebrew poets, including a good number of current writers, are represented. There are many poems that you'd expect to find in a collection like this, and many that will be new to you. Bravo to the editors, themselves poets and translators, for this landmark contribution to Hebrew feminist literature.

The Defiant Muse: Hebrew Feminist Poems from Antiquity to the Present, offers just what the title declares. A collection of poems, from the early period of Hebrew to modern times that have some sort of female viewpoint.

This is an anthology, so there is no consistent view of what "feminism" is, nor is there any attempt at a thematic focal point. Rather, the reader weaves his or her way through many voices, finding surprises here and there, and a great range of expression. Except for the fact that these are female voices speaking, we could almost drop the feminist label. If there was not a dominant, male voice in Hebrew poetics, this fine collection could easily be called Hebrew Humanist Poems from Antiquity to the Present.

This is a bi-lingual edition, so the reader with some Hebrew can also take a crack at the originals, and compare them to the final translations.