In Search of Genre is an innovative study of the beginning of modernity in Hebrew and Jewish letters, which reflected the emerging changes in Jewish society toward the end of the 18th century in Germany. Young intellectual Jews aspired to revitalize the Jewish people by reviving the Hebrew language and Jewish culture through literature. Their use of new and renewed literary genres mark the transition from traditional Hebrew letters to modern Hebrew literature. Modernity in Hebrew letters is thus defined as the endeavor to emulate the contemporary European literatures and their prevailing aesthetics and poetics. This study also explores major criteria for identifying and evaluating Hebrew modernism exemplified by attempts to redefine Judaism.

"In this comprehensive and insightful book under review, Professor Moshe Pelli does the most worthy justice to the nature of the early Haskalah....Professor Pelli exhibits the most impressive mastery of his field while sharing with the reader a laudable, formidable body of literary scholarship." - Hebrew Studies

"This is a worthy book that introduces the literature of the Haskalah in a most fastidious and brilliant fashion. It casts a new, enriching light on one of the most crucial stages in the evolution of Hebrew literature. Professor Moshe Pelli shows impressive mastery of his field, sharing with the reader a laudable body of scholarship." - Hebrew Higher Education