Nancy E. Berg
Nancy E. Berg is a professor of Hebrew and comparative literature at Washington University in St. Louis. She is the author of “Equal and More Equal: The Literary Works of Sami Michael” (2004), which is widely regarded as the definitive book about Michael’s influence on Israeli literature. Berg is also co-editor of “Exile and the Jews: Literature, History, and Identity” (2024) and the forthcoming “Longing and Belonging: Jews in the Modern Islamic World.”
Latest from Nancy E. Berg
Sami Michael Broke New Ground by Centering Arabs in His Hebrew Novels
The novelist Sami Michael died last year aged 97. Born and raised in Baghdad, he introduced characters previously marginalized or omitted in Hebrew literature: immigrants, Mizrahim, women and especially Arabs. His portrayals are sympathetic but unsparing, and his writing tackled issues central to Israeli society that were previously cloaked in silence.