ABSTRACT
The beginning of modern Hebrew literature is said to have coincided with the beginning of modern times in Jewish history. The literary classification refers to discussions of major trends toward modernism in strictly literary terms. This approach may be further subdivided into European or Judaic orientations. The former relies on European trends which found their way into Hebrew literature, a phenomenon that is said to represent the modern inclination in Hebrew letters. In order to identify modernism in Hebrew literature we should bear in mind the need to examine the very early period of the Haskalah in order to distinguish aspects of the new period and its literature from those in the earlier period. Hebrew scholarship must examine aspects of modernism within the neotraditional, cultural elements of Haskalah Judaism.
