A Report on Culture's Losses and Victories

The Canaanite Literary Critism of Hebrew War Fiction

Abstract

Canaanite ideology was belligerent, anti-Zionist and anti-Jewish, and it advocated a non-apologetic, confident Hebrew identity based on the ancient Hebrew culture. This article focuses on an under-researched aspect of the movement's writings, namely its literary critism and specifically its critical view of Hebrew war fiction. First, the article explicates poetic and ideological declarations made by members of the movement. Then, it turns to closely read a few examples pf the Caanite critical perspective on Hebrew war fiction, which were published in the movement;a magazine Alef in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Taking into account the Zionist literary discourse circa 1948, the Canaanite demand for war fiction can expalin the marginal position of the group's critical and literary products.