Article
Welcome to Israeli poetry - November 2004
January 18, 2006
While the poets share similarities, they are also markedly different: a married man, fulfilling the role of a loving husband of a loving wife, in contrast to a unmarried woman who never experienced living with a partner or mothering her own children; a man born in the Land of Israel, a sabra who experienced Europe for the first time on a trip visiting Holocaust survivors, in contrast with a Russian Jewish woman who, upon arriving in Palestine, immediately connected with the place and its people; a poet writing in his mother tongue, a new and colorful Hebrew, awake to both past treasures and rapid change, in contrast with an immigrant making her first, faltering steps, yet discovering through them rather quickly her own manner of expression, fluent and exact, enabling her to reveal her rich inner world – happy and sad at the same time.
{id="3155" title="Rachel"}, whose full name was Rachel Bluwstein, was born to a Jewish family in northern Russia in 1890, and received both a Jewish and a general education. At the age of 19 she visited Palestine, an event which changed her life. In the wake of her visit she devoted herself to the study of Hebrew and the Bible, joined Kibbutz Kinneret and began to write poetry in Hebrew. Her poetry treats failed relationships between men and women on the level of one-to-one experience (including, among others, biblical figures), but also a complex and emotional relationship with the landscape, especially her beloved Kinneret [the Sea of Galilee]. Because she contracted tuberculosis, she was prevented near the end of her short life (she died at 41) from engaging in physical labor on the land that was so dear to her.
Rachel's poetry, which was not revolutionary at the time it was written – neither in content nor in style – has lost none of its charm over the years, and finds its way into the hearts of Hebrew readers to this day. This edition of PIW features five poems by Rachel in their original Hebrew versions and in English translation by the gifted poet and translator Robert Friend. An {id="3108" title="essay in Friend’s memory"}, presenting a brief summary of his life’s work – some 800 translations of poems and numerous volumes of his own poetry – is also offered here. In addition, {id="3107" title="Rachel’s prose text"} on some of her experiences at the Kinneret, {id="3151" title="Friend’s introduction"} to his book of translations of her work, an article by Israeli literary critic {id="3087" title="Menachem Benn"} on his personal approach to the poet, and {id="3096" title="an article by this editor"} on Rachel’s ‘To My Country’, also appear.
{id="3162" title="Chaim Gouri"} was born in Tel Aviv in 1923; not only a prolific poet and writer, he has also long worked as a journalist, and as a documentary filmmaker. He joined the Palmach in 1941 and later served with the Israeli Defence Forces until his release from the army in 1949. Gouri was active in the struggle against British mandatory rule (1945-1947), fought in the battle over Jerusalem in 1967 and served as Education Officer in Sinai during the Yom Kippur War (1973). He is the recipient of many literary awards, including the Bialik and Israel prizes, and his poetry has been translated into many languages.
Gouri's poetry, which began its way in print in 1949 and continues to do so in the twenty-first century, documents a period of more than fifty years in the development of the Hebrew language, a half-century of poetry written in Hebrew, and in the lifestyle of the Jewish people in their renewed homeland. This issue of PIW contains seven poems in the Hebrew original, and in translations by Stanley Chyet, T. Carmi and Linda Zisquit. Five essays accompany the poetry: an article by literary scholar {id="3115" title="Ariel Hirschfeld"} on the connection between Gouri’s work, and the religion and culture of modern day Israel; an article by the writer {id="3128" title="Moshe Shamir"} locating Gouri in a generation tired of war and sacrifice, whose poetry expresses a longing for peace; and three short analyses of three different poems by poet and scholar {id="3114" title="Dan Pagis"}.
In addition, this edition offers an essay by Israeli publisher and editor {id="3149" title="Uzi Agassi"} on the state of contemporary Israeli poetry, which enables non-Hebrew speakers to become acquainted with particular influences on Israeli writing, and offers a general perspective on what is happening in Hebrew poetry today.
Enjoy! 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.
Welcome to the eighth edition of the Israeli pages of PIW. The current offering focuses on the poets Rachel (Bluwstein) and Chaim Gouri, and closes the second year of Israeli poetry on the site. In contrast to the previous edition, which introduced excellent poets who are less well-known to the public, {id="3165" title="Dvora Amir"} and {id="3177" title="Salman Masalha"}, this one presents poets who both acquired reputation, honor and fame in their lifetimes, and whose work is featured prominently in textbooks of modern Hebrew poetry: no anthology of twentieth century Hebrew poetry would be considered complete without Rachel and Chaim Gouri.
Nature and interpersonal relations played formative roles in the lives of these humanistic, lyric poets, in the shaping of their worldviews, and in their conception of poetry. The Land of Israel is central to it, as a physical location whose landscape shaped their personalities, and which provided a constant source of inspiration: through this place, both poets joined a larger public, the Jewish people in its land, and the public which feels a deep connection to the past, that is, to the Israelites in the biblical homeland.While the poets share similarities, they are also markedly different: a married man, fulfilling the role of a loving husband of a loving wife, in contrast to a unmarried woman who never experienced living with a partner or mothering her own children; a man born in the Land of Israel, a sabra who experienced Europe for the first time on a trip visiting Holocaust survivors, in contrast with a Russian Jewish woman who, upon arriving in Palestine, immediately connected with the place and its people; a poet writing in his mother tongue, a new and colorful Hebrew, awake to both past treasures and rapid change, in contrast with an immigrant making her first, faltering steps, yet discovering through them rather quickly her own manner of expression, fluent and exact, enabling her to reveal her rich inner world – happy and sad at the same time.
{id="3155" title="Rachel"}, whose full name was Rachel Bluwstein, was born to a Jewish family in northern Russia in 1890, and received both a Jewish and a general education. At the age of 19 she visited Palestine, an event which changed her life. In the wake of her visit she devoted herself to the study of Hebrew and the Bible, joined Kibbutz Kinneret and began to write poetry in Hebrew. Her poetry treats failed relationships between men and women on the level of one-to-one experience (including, among others, biblical figures), but also a complex and emotional relationship with the landscape, especially her beloved Kinneret [the Sea of Galilee]. Because she contracted tuberculosis, she was prevented near the end of her short life (she died at 41) from engaging in physical labor on the land that was so dear to her.
Rachel's poetry, which was not revolutionary at the time it was written – neither in content nor in style – has lost none of its charm over the years, and finds its way into the hearts of Hebrew readers to this day. This edition of PIW features five poems by Rachel in their original Hebrew versions and in English translation by the gifted poet and translator Robert Friend. An {id="3108" title="essay in Friend’s memory"}, presenting a brief summary of his life’s work – some 800 translations of poems and numerous volumes of his own poetry – is also offered here. In addition, {id="3107" title="Rachel’s prose text"} on some of her experiences at the Kinneret, {id="3151" title="Friend’s introduction"} to his book of translations of her work, an article by Israeli literary critic {id="3087" title="Menachem Benn"} on his personal approach to the poet, and {id="3096" title="an article by this editor"} on Rachel’s ‘To My Country’, also appear.
{id="3162" title="Chaim Gouri"} was born in Tel Aviv in 1923; not only a prolific poet and writer, he has also long worked as a journalist, and as a documentary filmmaker. He joined the Palmach in 1941 and later served with the Israeli Defence Forces until his release from the army in 1949. Gouri was active in the struggle against British mandatory rule (1945-1947), fought in the battle over Jerusalem in 1967 and served as Education Officer in Sinai during the Yom Kippur War (1973). He is the recipient of many literary awards, including the Bialik and Israel prizes, and his poetry has been translated into many languages.
Gouri's poetry, which began its way in print in 1949 and continues to do so in the twenty-first century, documents a period of more than fifty years in the development of the Hebrew language, a half-century of poetry written in Hebrew, and in the lifestyle of the Jewish people in their renewed homeland. This issue of PIW contains seven poems in the Hebrew original, and in translations by Stanley Chyet, T. Carmi and Linda Zisquit. Five essays accompany the poetry: an article by literary scholar {id="3115" title="Ariel Hirschfeld"} on the connection between Gouri’s work, and the religion and culture of modern day Israel; an article by the writer {id="3128" title="Moshe Shamir"} locating Gouri in a generation tired of war and sacrifice, whose poetry expresses a longing for peace; and three short analyses of three different poems by poet and scholar {id="3114" title="Dan Pagis"}.
In addition, this edition offers an essay by Israeli publisher and editor {id="3149" title="Uzi Agassi"} on the state of contemporary Israeli poetry, which enables non-Hebrew speakers to become acquainted with particular influences on Israeli writing, and offers a general perspective on what is happening in Hebrew poetry today.
Enjoy! 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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