Shachar Levanon

Photo Of Shachar Levanon Standing in Front Of Leaves

PhD Candidate

Shachar Levanon is a PhD candidate in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations. He holds an MA in modern Hebrew literature with a specialization in Yiddish literature from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. His MA thesis is a study of objects and materiality in the poetry of Avot Yeshurun.

Levanon’s current project examines multilingual Jewish writing in the interbellum period, exploring the literary, aesthetic, and cultural connections between writers from three different literary traditions in America—Hebrew, Yiddish, and American literature. His dissertation focuses on the literary scene of New York City and shows that Jewish American writing can be understood as a multilingual, cross-cultural phenomenon.

Education

PhD, Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, University of Pennsylvania expected December 2024  

  • Dissertation Title, “Literary Geographies, Urban Enclaves: Multilingual Jewish Writing in Interbellum New York”

MA, Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, University of Pennsylvania                            2022

MA, Hebrew and Yiddish Literature, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev                               2017

  • Thesis Title: “The Objects in the Poetry of Avot Yeshurun

BA, Psychology and Hebrew Literature, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, cum laude     2014                                                                                                                         

Research Interests

Modern Hebrew literature; modern Yiddish literature; 20th-century American literature; modernism and modernity; poetry and poetics; multilingualism and translation; immigration and ethnic studies; urbanism and the city; spatial and critical theory; literary geography; phenomenology; psychoanalysis.

Courses Taught

Teaching Assistant, University of Pennsylvania                                                            2019-2021

Modern Hebrew Literature in Translation: Image of the City, Prof. Nili Scharf Gold, Spring 2021

Modern Hebrew Literature in Translation: Fantasy, Dreams and Madness, Prof. Nili Scharf Gold, Fall 2021

Modern Middle Eastern Literatures in Translation, Profs. Gold, Fakhreddine, Shams, and Onder, Spring 2020

The Image of Childhood in Israeli Literature and Film, Prof. Nili Scharf Gold, Fall 2020

 

Instructor, Sapir College                                                                                                     2016-2018

Great Books, Profs. Setter and Dagan, Sapir College, 2016-2018

 

Teaching Assistant, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev                                                      2014

Masterpieces of World Literature, Prof. Anat Weisman, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, 2014

Selected Publications
  • Article, “'Sunset in New York': Multilingualism, Translation, and Contact Between Literatures in the Works of Abraham Zvi Halevy and Simon Halkin.” In The Cambridge History of Modern Hebrew Literature, edited by Zehavit Zaslansky and Yaron Peleg, Cambridge Press (manuscript in preparation)
  • Article, “The Objects in the Poetry of Avot Yeshurun.” Mikan, Journal for Hebrew and Israeli Literature and Culture Studies (accepted)
  • Translations, Jacob Glatstein’s Poetry, Electric Insolent World, November 2023
  • Translations, Jacob Glatstein’s Poetry, Ho! Literary Magazine, Vol. 16, 2018
  • Book Review, Reshtlekh (The Remaining Left), Itzhak Bashevis Singer‏, Haaretz, November 2016
Affiliations
  • Association for Jewish Studies
  • National Association of Professors of Hebrew