DALESKI, HILLEL

DALESKI, HILLEL (1926– ), scholar of English literature. Daleski was born in South Africa. In 1944 he joined the South African army and fought in Italy. In 1947 he graduated in English and history from Witwatersrand University in South Africa. In 1948 he volunteered for mahal and fought in Israel's War of Independence. In 1952 he received his M.A. in English from Witwatersrand University and settled Israel with his wife and infant daughter. In 1963 he received his Ph.D. from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, teaching there from 1954 and becoming a professor in 1976. He also served as provost of the School for Overseas Students in 1973–76 and was twice head of the English department, in 1968–70 and 1984–85. In 1985 he was president of the International Dickens Society. He was also professor in the English departments of Tel Aviv and Ben-Gurion universities and consultant in the establishment of the English department in Haifa University. Daleski became a member of the Israeli Academy of Sciences and Humanities in 1993 and an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1999. He published numerous essays and eight books dealing with D.H. Lawrence, Charles Dickens,   Joseph Conrad, Thomas Hardy, and others. In 2000 he was awarded the Israel Prize for literature studies. (Shaked Gilboa (2nd ed.)