Many of Amos Oz‘s (1939-2018) novels reveal the dark underside of life and the psyche. His lyrical poetry and prose use everyday language to create vivid, poignant images and capture complex emotions and experiences, both in his early poetry, represented in the translated collection The Selected Poetry of Yehuda Amichai, and in his final book, Open Closed Open: Poems. His work has been translated into more than 20 languages, from Albanian to Turkish. Yehuda Amichai (1924-2000) is one of the best known and most beloved Israeli poets. Though writers such as Yehoshua Kenaz and Binyamin Tammuz are not easy to find in translation, many others writers of the time are well-represented in English. The New Waveįrom the early 1960s, Israeli fiction has been filled with complex characters alienated from society and the land. A more recent book, Foiglman, examines conflicted relationships between fathers and sons, Israel and the Diaspora, and Hebrew and Yiddish. One of Megged’s best known novels, The Living on the Dead, questions the existence of heroism in Israeli society. In the story “The Sermon,” from the collection The Sermon and Other Stories, his characters reject Jewish life in the Diaspora and envision a new Jewish nation, free of the neuroses of previous generations.Īharon Megged (1920-2016) often writes about the powerlessness and disillusionment of his generation. In contrast to Agnon, Chayim Hazaz‘s (1898-1973) modernist stories and novels are often explicitly ideological, examining different social and historical aspects of Zionism. Among his best known works are A Guest for the Night, which narrates the protagonist’s return to his Galician town after the destruction of World War I, Only Yesterday, a sprawling social and psychological portrait of the Second Aliya, and his many short stories, collected in A Book That Was Lost and Other Stories. Agnon (1888-1970) was one of the most celebrated Hebrew writers of the twentieth century, and the only Israeli to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature. In the decades before and after the founding of the state of Israel, there is immense variety in Hebrew literature, mixing new and old literary themes and techniques. Sly Modernists and Fervent Zionistsīy the 1930s, the center of Hebrew literature had shifted from Europe to the Jewish community in Palestine. Baron wrote one novel and many intricate, lyrical short stories–often set in small towns in Eastern Europe–that have been collected in “The First Day” and Other Stories, translated and edited by Naomi Seidman and Chana Kronfeld. While Bialik and Brenner are mainstays of the Hebrew canon, a more surprising figure to find in English translation is Devora Baron (1887-1956). Perhaps his best known work is Breakdown and Bereavement, a novel that traces the unraveling of an aspiring pioneer. Yosef Chayim Brenner (1881-1921) was among the first generation of Hebrew writers in the Yishuv (the Jewish community in pre-state Palestine). Bialik: Collected Poems, explores radical changes in Eastern European Jewish life, biblical themes and the beauty of the natural world. His rich and complex poetry, presented in translations such as David Aberbach’s C.N. READ: 7 Female Israeli Writers You Should Be ReadingĬhaim Nachman Bialik (1873-1934) is one of the best known poets of the late 19th century and early 20th century renaissance of Hebrew literature. Few of these classics are still in print, but several notable writers are featured in recent books and reprints. Modern Hebrew literature first emerged in Europe during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. While not all Hebrew books appear in English as quickly as these Israeli best sellers, readers in English can sample the richness of modern Hebrew literature, particularly novels and short stories, through the many works currently available in translation. Looking for the latest Hebrew literature in translation? Find catalogues detailing which Israeli books have been translated recently and which titles are in the works. Yehoshua appear on shelves at American bookstores and on the pages of The New York Review of Books. Within two to three years of their initial publication, novels by prominent Israeli writers such as Amos Oz and A.B. Considering that Hebrew books are from a small country and in a relatively obscure language, they are often translated into English at an astonishing speed. ![]() ![]() My Jewish Learning is a not-for-profit and relies on your help DonateĪpproximately 5,000 books are published annually in Israel.
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