Ilana Szobel

Professor on the Joseph H. and Belle R. Braun Chair in Hebrew Literature

Departments/Programs

Comparative Humanities
Near Eastern and Judaic Studies

Degrees

New York University, Ph.D.
Tel-Aviv University, M.A.
Tel-Aviv University, B.A.

Expertise

Modern Hebrew Literature
Israel Studies
Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Psychoanalysis
Trauma Studies
Sexualized Violence Studies
Disability Studies
Film Studies

Profile

Ilana Szobel is Professor of Modern Hebrew Literature on the Joseph H. and Belle R. Braun Chair. She received her doctorate in 2008 from New York University (Her dissertation won the 2007 Ben Halpern Award for Best Dissertation from the Association for Israel Studies).
Her book, A Poetics of Trauma: The Work of Dahlia Ravikovitch (University Press of New England, 2013) is the first full-length study of the renowned Israeli poet, translator, peace activist, and 1998 Israel Prize laureate Dahlia Ravikovitch (1936-2005).
Her book, Flesh of My Flesh: Sexual Violence in Modern Hebrew Literature (SUNY Press, Contemporary Jewish Literature and Culture book series, 2021), explores the literary history of sexual assault in Hebrew literature. The book was a finalist for the Concordia University Library - Azrieli Institute Award for Best Book in Israel Studies.
Ilana Szobel has also authored various articles treating Hebrew literature, gender and trauma studies, psychoanalysis, disability studies, and Israeli film.
By introducing students to works of art, film, dance, and music, she aims to expose students to the critical study of Hebrew and Israeli culture, gender studies, and disability culture. Her courses include “Introduction to Israeli Literature, Film, and Culture,” “The Holocaust in Jewish Literature,” “Minorities and Others in Israeli Literature and Culture,” “Trauma and Violence in Israeli Literature and Film,” Israeli Women Writers on War and Peace,” “Love, Sex, and Power in Israeli Culture,” and "Disability Cultures: Art, Film and Literature of People with Disabilities."

Courses Taught

FA/NEJS	183a	Breaking Boundaries in Contemporary Israeli Culture
NEJS	173a	Trauma and Violence in Israeli Literature and Film
NEJS	174a	Minorities and Others in Israeli Literature and Culture
NEJS	174b	Israeli Women Writers on War and Peace
NEJS	177a	The Holocaust in Israeli and Jewish Literature
NEJS	178a	Love, Sex, and Power in Israeli Culture
NEJS	184b	Disability Cultures: Art, Film and Literature of People with Disabilities
NEJS/WGS	110a	Sexual Violence in Film and Culture
WMGS	205a	Graduate Foundational Course in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

Awards and Honors

Flesh of My Flesh: Sexual Violence in Modern Hebrew Literature - Finalist for the Concordia University Library - Azrieli Institute Award for Best Book in Israel Studies (2022)

Provost's Teaching Innovation Grant (2021)

The Theodore and Jane Norman Award for Faculty Scholarship (2021)

Senior Faculty Research Leave (2018)

The Freishtat Accessible Course Excellence in Teaching Grants (FACET) (2017 - 2018)

Provost Research Award, Brandeis University (2015)

The Social Sciences and Research Council of Canada, Travel Grant (2015)

Creativity, Art, and Social Transformation (CAST) Grant (2014)

The Theodore and Jane Norman Award for Faculty Scholarship (2014)

The Bronfman Philanthropies Grant, The Brandeis-Israel Collaborative Research Initiative. (2012)

AIS Ben Halpern Award for Best Dissertation in Israel Studies for 2007 (2008)

Scholarship

Szobel, Ilana, ed. Tsvia Litevsky: Core of Stillness [Ein Hadumiya]. Israel: Carmel Publishing House, 2021.

Szobel, Ilana. Flesh of My Flesh: Sexual Violence in Modern Hebrew Literature. Albany: SUNY Press, 2021.

Szobel, Ilana. "Choreographing the Disabled Body: Performing Vulnerability and Political Change in the Work of Tamar Borer." The Journal of Jewish Identities 12 (1) (2019): 55-74.

Szobel, Ilana and Shirly Bahar. "Tales of Confession: Israeli Political Documentary Films." Mikan 17. (2017): 251-277.

Szobel, Ilana. "Parental Abuse, Metamorphosis, and Poetics in Tsvia Litevsky’s Poetry." Jerusalem Studies in Hebrew Literature 28. (2017): 199-227.

Szobel, Ilana. "’Lights in the Darkness:’ Prostitution, Power, and Vulnerability in Early Twentieth-Century Hebrew Literature." Prooftexts 34. 2 (2016): 170-206.

Szobel, Ilana. "Such Wonder: A Conversation with the Israeli Poet Tsvia Litevsky." Iton 77 January-February 2014: 22-24.

Szobel, Ilana. A Poetics of Trauma: The Work of Dahlia Ravikovitch. Waltham: Brandeis University Press, 2013.

Szobel, Ilana. "‘Unveiling Injustice:’ Dalia Ravikovitch’s Poetry of Witness." Narratives of Dissent:: Representations of War In Israeli Culture. Ed. Rachel S. Harris and Ranen Omer-Sherman, Eds.. Wayne State UP, 2012. 167-186.

Szobel, Ilana. ""Hovering at a Low Altitude:" Testimony and Complicity in the Political Writing of Dahlia Ravikovitch." Sparks of Light: Essays about Dahlia Ravikovitch’s Oeuvre. Ed. Hamutal Tsamir and Tamar S. Hess. Tel Aviv: Hakibbutz Hameuchad, 2010. 444 - 469.

Szobel, Ilana. "Forever Beholden: The State of Orphanhood in the Work of Dahlia Ravikovitch." Nashim: A Journal of Jewish Women's Studies & Gender 19. (2010): 228 - 247.

Szobel, Ilana. "God of Fury and His Victims: the Binding of Isaac (Akedah) in Hebrew Women's Poetry, 1930-1970." Jerusalem Studies in Hebrew Literature 22. (2008): 65-92.

Szobel, Ilana. "'She Tried to Escape and Lost her Senses:' Alienation and Madness in the Stories of Dahlia Ravikovitch." Theory and Criticism 28. (2006): 127-155.