Gershon Shaked

Israel’s foremost literary critic, Gershon Shaked, was born Gerhard Mandel in Vienna, to illiterate parents. As a result of the Nazi annexation of Austria, Shaked’s parents rushed to send him to Palestine, where he arrived alone at the age of ten in 1939. He was later joined by his parents. Shaked received his doctorate in Hebrew literature at the Hebrew University, where he became a professor and served as head of the Hebrew Literature Department. His criticism was awarded the Bialik Prize in 1986 and the Israel Prize for Literature in 1993.