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8. Women's Issues in the Literary Marketplace: Anthologies of Israeli Women Writers Hanita Brand This essay brings to light the correlation between the appearance ofIsraeli women's writings in anthologies and the general status of women's issues in Israel. Taking an historical perspective to include early women's writing in the pre-1948 yishuv, the author examines a phenomenon which she calls the "double hurdle" faced by Israeli women writers : getting published in Israel, and getting translated and known abroad. Diament, Carol, and Lily Rattok, eds. Ribcage: Israeli Women's Fiction, New York: Hadassah, 1994. Domb, Risa, ed., New Women's Writing from Israel, London: Vallentine Mitchell, 1996. It is a truism to say that decisions involved in teaching a course in Hebrew literature in translation depend first and foremost on available and accessible translated works, rather than on choices regarding their topics. No matter how original and interesting a topic may be, it will only lead to a dull and bland course if the primary sources pertaining to it are out of reach. But even with this knowledge in mind, one is bound to recognize that the scarcity ofaccessible 137 138 Hanita Brand women's literature is not yet another technical problem, as it exceeds the range of general difficulties in getting hold of quality translated material for teaching Hebrew literature. This is definitely a substantive issue, being a result and a manifestation of a certain situation pertaining to women in Israeli society. Thus, the very difficulty ofaccessing such material is in itself part of the content of any given course that is designed to include it. This is why the recent appearance oftwo anthologies oftranslated short stories by Israeli women writers is a veritable cause for celebration . When Carol Diament and Lily Rattok's anthology, Ribcage: Israeli Women's Fiction, came out, I welcomed it as a much-needed addition to my courses. Hardly two years have passed, and before news of this book reached all those who teach Hebrew literature, a second anthology has appeared, Risa Domb's New Women's Writing from Israel.1 It is indeed evidence that times are changing. On this happy occasion I propose to sketch out Israeli women writers'publication and translation patterns as they pertain to existing anthologies , and then situate these two important additions within the overall picture of writing by women in Israel. This essay is limited in scope. It is not designed to provide an indepth analysis of the translated stories appearing in the new anthologies ; there will be other opportunities to assess the value and contribution of these, once the books are sufficiently used in both general and class situations. Nor is it intended as an all-inclusive history of Israeli women's writing in Israel and abroad. Rather, its aim is to locate the meeting point between the general picture and these two particular books, and to give as much material as needed to create a background for appraising the contribution of the books to the field ofwomen's literature. As far as translated short fiction is concerned, the voice of Israeli women was muted for a long time. Until two years ago, the best way to search for such literature would have been to survey byways, such as periodicals, since the highways were almost totally male dominated . It is true that a few collections ofwell-known female writers, such as Dvorah Baron, Leah Goldberg and, in later years, Shulamith Hareven, did make it to the English book market, but these were rare occurrences. The majority of women writers, particularly new emerging talents, were invisible to the English reading public. For these female authors, the possibility of coming out with their own collections of short stories was (and still is) highly unlikely. It is here that anthologies are most beneficial, providing a much-needed venue for a variety of voices to be heard. Yet a look at some of the general Women's Issues in the Literary Marketplace 139 translated anthologies that were widely used in the last forty years will reveal the extent to which women writers have been excluded. Ofthe six anthologies I examined,2 only two included women writers among their selected authors. Table 1 is a breakdown ofthe six books. Table 1 General Translated Anthologies of Modern Israeli Stories Year of Number of Number of Number of Editor's Name Publication Stories Authors Women Kahn 1957 15 143 0 Blocker 1962 9 84 0 Michener 1973 15 15 15...

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