Revisiting the Pioneer Past: Continuity and Change in Hebrew Settlement Narratives

The popular settlement narrative depicting Israeli society's pioneering past represents major Zionist themes of return to the land, struggle, and redemption. With the passage of time, this narrative has been subject to both nostalgic representations and critical evaluations in contemporary Israeli culture. This article examines three works of Hebrew Action written by Yitzhak Ben-Ner, Meir Shalev, and Savyon Liebrecht focusing on Zionist settlers' families and farms in a moment of crisis. Serving as counter-myth texts, these works point out the breakdown of the old settlement narrative through subversive plots, symbolic inversions, and humorous depictions. Depicting intergenerational tensions and an ambivalent attitude toward the land, they construct a more intricate portrayal of the pioneer past and explore the ambiguity of its future.