Article
Welcome to Israeli poetry - August 2005
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January 18, 2006
Therefore, the twenty-sixth poet presented in this domain is none other than {id="3163" title="Chaim Nachman Bialik"} (1873-1934), considered the national poet of Israel. Bialik, who died fourteen years before the establishment of the State of Israel, was not only a poet, but also an important essayist, translator, storyteller and editor. He had a tremendous influence on the development of Hebrew poetry, beginning in his own life time, and he is considered not only one of the greatest Hebrew authors of all times but also one of the most popular poets in Israel today.
There have been many translations of Bialik’s work into other languages and much academic research has been done on Bialik and on his poetry, which is an essential part of literary studies in Israeli grade schools, high schools and universities. Although the poet died more than seventy years ago, one quite often finds – not only in Hebrew literary magazines but also in Israeli daily newspapers – articles and discussions concerning the ‘right’ or ‘correct’ interpretation of Bialik’s writings. Only a few months before the preparation of this edition, Israeli newspapers published some stormy discussions among professors Hamutal Bar-Yosef , Avner Holzman and Menachem Peri about the new edition of Bialik’s poetry published by Holzman, as well as a trenchant critique written by Prof. Ziva Shamir about a new book of Bialik’s poems in English, translated and edited by Atar Hadari with an introduction by Prof. Dan Miron. Having to choose only one article for this edition, taking Ruth Nevo’s introduction for her book of translations seemed the most natural choice – Nevo writes about Bialik in an interesting, concise and clear way and she explains and justifies her choices in a fascinating manner. After all, the amount of work a successful translator has to invest in his or her work can hardly ever be truly appreciated and many times it is translators to whom poets and authors owe their fame, even if you are a national poet in some corner of this globalized village. All prose translations on the Israeli domain are by PIW editor Lisa Katz, unless otherwise indicated.
{id="3083" title="Rami Saari"}, National Editor
{id="3083" title="Lisa Katz"}, English Language Editor
The Israeli national site is produced by {id="3098" title="Mishkenot Sha’ananim"} International Cultural Centre in Jerusalem.
There is no future without presence and no presence without past: Hebrew poetry sticks to its ancient traditions and to its modern and vital past, both represented by Chaim Nachman Bialik, the national poet of Israel.
Right from the very beginning the Israeli domain of PIW had as its intention to present contemporary Hebrew, and to some extent also Arabic poetry written in Israel. The first 25 poets in our pages give a colorful image of the pluralistic and complicated reality that is Israel. Although it has been important to show a varied rather than an ‘average’ picture of contemporary Israeli poetry, emphasis has been put on the present situation. This said, however, including the great medieval poet {id="3180" title="Solomon Ibn Gabirol"} in the first edition of this domain was neither a mistake nor a coincidence. Hebrew poetry has shown its readers more than once that going forward without thinking of what is left behind leads nowhere. Both from a linguistic and from a cultural point of view neglecting a rich literary heritage instead of incorporating it into current writing means losing roots, forgetting the basis, favoring the unknown and rejecting an important part of the self. Therefore, the twenty-sixth poet presented in this domain is none other than {id="3163" title="Chaim Nachman Bialik"} (1873-1934), considered the national poet of Israel. Bialik, who died fourteen years before the establishment of the State of Israel, was not only a poet, but also an important essayist, translator, storyteller and editor. He had a tremendous influence on the development of Hebrew poetry, beginning in his own life time, and he is considered not only one of the greatest Hebrew authors of all times but also one of the most popular poets in Israel today.
There have been many translations of Bialik’s work into other languages and much academic research has been done on Bialik and on his poetry, which is an essential part of literary studies in Israeli grade schools, high schools and universities. Although the poet died more than seventy years ago, one quite often finds – not only in Hebrew literary magazines but also in Israeli daily newspapers – articles and discussions concerning the ‘right’ or ‘correct’ interpretation of Bialik’s writings. Only a few months before the preparation of this edition, Israeli newspapers published some stormy discussions among professors Hamutal Bar-Yosef , Avner Holzman and Menachem Peri about the new edition of Bialik’s poetry published by Holzman, as well as a trenchant critique written by Prof. Ziva Shamir about a new book of Bialik’s poems in English, translated and edited by Atar Hadari with an introduction by Prof. Dan Miron. Having to choose only one article for this edition, taking Ruth Nevo’s introduction for her book of translations seemed the most natural choice – Nevo writes about Bialik in an interesting, concise and clear way and she explains and justifies her choices in a fascinating manner. After all, the amount of work a successful translator has to invest in his or her work can hardly ever be truly appreciated and many times it is translators to whom poets and authors owe their fame, even if you are a national poet in some corner of this globalized village. All prose translations on the Israeli domain are by PIW editor Lisa Katz, unless otherwise indicated.
{id="3083" title="Rami Saari"}, National Editor
{id="3083" title="Lisa Katz"}, English Language Editor
The Israeli national site is produced by {id="3098" title="Mishkenot Sha’ananim"} International Cultural Centre in Jerusalem.
© Rami Saari
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