Homogeneity vs. Heterogeneity in the Young Adult and Children’s Literature of Devorah Omer

Devorah Omer (1932–2013) is one of the most prominent, successful, and esteemed children’s and young adult writers in modern Israeli history. Over the course of fifty years her fiction has shaped the worldview of her readers—their ideological stances, attitudes towards society, and perspectives on the nation’s past. By referring to some of her novels from the 1960s and ’70s, the articledemonstratesthe structure of her fiction. Omer’s novels portray a process by which protagonists, who come from the social periphery, become part of the social center. Although the protagonists depict an alternative perspective, as the plot progresses their critical voice gradually fades away, and they assume the mantle of the hegemonic culture they had originally opposed. Hence, Omer’s fiction speaks simultaneously in two voices: the hegemonic voice of the national collective and the heterogeneous voice of the liberal state. This way the novels represent—and exemplify—the tension betweenthese opposed tendencies of contemporary Israeli society.