Modern Hebrew literature, an offspring of Zionism, has long rejected writing about one’s personal life as embarrassing narcissism and self-exposure. However, many well-known Israeli artists have reached the age where they want to tell their true stories, and the younger generation has grown up during an individualistic period where it is acceptable to talk about open wounds and trauma. The Israeli scholar of autobiography Nitza Ben-Dov sees this trend as a symptom of the culture of exposure in which we live (e.g. reality TV, Facebook, etc.). The genres examined in this course are fluid: memoirs; poetry, prose and even films that reveal or conceal the author’s life story. Authors to be studied include: Yehuda Amichai, Dahlia Ravikovitch, Aharon Appelfeld, Amos Oz,  and S.Y. Agnon. Filmmakers include: Shemi Zarhin, Dror Shaul, and Ari Folman. This course is for students who are interested in taking a literature course in Hebrew and are proficient in it. Grading is based primarily on students’ literary understanding, not spelling or grammar. There will be three 2-page written assignments. Texts, discussions, and papers are in Hebrew. The content of this course changes from year to year so students may take it for credit more than once.