Yehuda Amichai |
Yehuda Amichai (1924-2000), Israel`s most renowned poet, was born to a religious family in Wurzburg, Germany, and was raised speaking both Hebrew and German. His family immigrated to pre-state Israel in 1936. Amichai served with the British Army`s Jewish Brigade in World War II and fought in the elite Palmach unit during Israel`s 1948 War of Independence. He studied literature and biblical studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and was poet in residence at numerous universities, including Berkeley, NYU and Yale. Amichai published 13 books of poetry; he also wrote two novels, a collection of short stories, children`s books, and plays which have been performed in the USA, Germany, Italy, Poland and Holland. His work has been published in 40 languages, and is included in high school and university syllabuses worldwide. Among the many honors he received: the Shlonsky Prize (1961), the Brenner Prize (1969),the Bialik Prize (1976), Wurzburg`s Prize for Culture (Germany, 1981), the Israel Prize (1982), the Agnon Prize (1986), the Malraux Prize (France, 1994), the Literary Lion Award (New York, 1994), Macedonia`s Golden Wreath Award (1995), the Norwegian Bjornson Poetry Award (1996), an Honor Citation from Assiut University, Egypt, and numerous Honorary Doctorates. He became an Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters (1986), and a Distinguished Associate Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1991). His work is included in the "100 Greatest Works of Modern Jewish Literature" (2001), and in innumerable international anthologies. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize on more than one occasion. Amichai`s archives are kept at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library of Yale University. "Through his synthesis of the poetic with the everyday, Amichai effected a revolutionary change in both the subject matter and the language of poetry." Israel Prize Citation "I`ve become more than ever convinced that Amichai is one of the biggest, most essential, most durable poeticvoices of this past century - one of the most intimate, alive and human, wise, humourous, true, loving, inwardly free and resourceful, at home in every human situation. One of the real treasures." Ted Hughes, Times Literary Supplement "Yehuda Amichai [was] for generations the most prominent poet in Israel, and one of the leading figures in world poetry since the mid-1960s." The Times (London) "Amichai was loved by his readers worldwide ...and it is not hard to see why. His poems are...profound: humorous, ironic and yet full of passion, secular but God-engaged, allusive but accessible...He should have won the Nobel prize in any of the last 20 years, but he knew that as far as the Scandinavian judges were concerned, and whatever his personal politics, which were indubitably on the dovish side, he came from the wrong side of the stockade." New York Times "He is one of our great poets... Once one has heard his quiet, even tones, precise, distanced and passionate, one can never forget them." Times Literary Supplement "Israel has no poet laureate; Yehuda Amichai was closest to being the nation`s poet... in that he was foremost among the creators of the modern Hebrew language." The Independent (London) |
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Books Published in Hebrew |
| Poetry |
| Now and in Other Days, Likrat, 1955 [Achshav U-Va-Iamim Ha-Aherim] |
| Two Hopes Away, Hakibbutz Hameuchad, 1958 [Be-Merhak Shtei Tikvot] |
| In the Public Garden , Achshav, 1959 [Ba-Gina Ha-tziburit] |
| Poems 1948-1962, Schocken, 1963; 1977; 2002 [Shirim 1948-1962] |
| Now in Noise, Schocken, 1968; 2002 [Achshav Ba-Ra`ash] |
| Not to Remember, Schocken, 1971;2002 [Ve-Lo Al Menat Lizkor] |
| Behind all this Hides a Great Happiness, Schocken, 1974; 2003 [Me-Ahori Col Ze Mistater Osher Gadol] |
| Time, Schocken, 1977;2003 [Ha-Zeman] |
| Great Tranquillity, Schocken, 1980;2003 [Shalva Gedola: She`elot U-Teshuvot] |
| Hour of Grace, Schocken, 1982;2004 [Sheat Ha-Hesed] |
| Of Man Thou Art, and Unto Man Shalt Thou Return (poetry), Schocken, 1985;2004 [Me-Adam Atah Ve-El Adam Tashuv] |
| Even a Fist was once an Open Palm with Fingers (poetry), Schocken, 1989; 2002; 2004 [Gam Ha-Egrof Haia Pa`am Yad Ptuha Ve-Etzbaot] |
| Open Eyed Land, Schocken, 1992 [Nof Gluy Eyinaym] |
| Achziv, Cesarea and One Love, Schocken, 1996 [Achziv, Keisaria Ve-Ahava Ahat] |
| Open Closed Open, Schocken, 1998; 2004 [Patuah Sagur Patuah] |
| Collected Poems (five volumes), Schocken, 2002-2004 [Shirei Yehuda Amichai] Fiction, Plays & Other |
| In This Terrible Wind (stories), Schocken, 1961; 1973 [Ba-Ruach Ha-Nora`ah Ha-Zot] |
| Journey to Nineveh (play), Achshav, 1962 [Masa Le-Ninveh] |
| Not of this Time, Not of this Place (novel), Schocken, 1963; 1967; 1986 [Lo Me-Achshav lo Mi-Kan] |
| Bells and Trains (plays and radio scripts), Schocken, 1968;1992 [Pa`amonim Ve-Rakavot] |
| To Have a Dwelling Place (novel), Bitan, 1971;2001 [Mi Itneni Malon] Children |
| Things that Happened to Roni in New-York children), Am Oved, 1968; 2002 [Ma She-Kara Le-Roni Be-New-York] |
| Numa`s Fat Tail (children), Schocken, 1978; 2004 [Ha-Zanav Ha-Shamen Shel Numa] |
| The Great Book of the Night (children), Schocken, 1988 [Sefer Ha-Laila Ha-Gadol]
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| Performed Plays |
| No Man`s Land [Zavit-1962] |
| Journey to Ninveh [Habimah-1964] |
Books in Translation |
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Poetry in English translation (selected) Akhziv, Caesarea and One Love Tel Aviv, Schocken, 1996 Amen New York, Harper & Row, 1977 Minneapolis, Milkweed Editions, 1977 New York, Oxford University Press, 1978 The Early Books of Yehuda Amichai Riverdale-on-Hudson, Sheep Meadow Press, 1988 Even a Fist was Once an Open Palm with Fingers New York, Harper Perennial, 1991 Great Tranquillity: Questions and Answers English: New York, Harper & Row, 1983; New York, Sheep Meadow, 1997 Love Poems Tel Aviv, Schocken, 1981 New York, Harper & Row, 1981 More Love Poems Tel Aviv, Schocken, 1994 Open-Eyed Land - Landschaft Offenen Auges (English, German & Hebrew) - Tel Aviv, Schocken, 1992 Open Closed Open New York, Harcourt, 2000; Washington, Harvest Books, 2006 Poems New York, Harper & Row, 1969 Poems of Jerusalem Tel Aviv, Schocken, 1987 New York, Harper & Row, 1988 Poems of Jerusalem and Love Poems New York, Sheep Meadow, 1992 Selected Poems London, Cape Goliard, 1968 Harmondsworth, Penguin Books, 1971 London, Scepture Press, 1979 London, Viking, 1987 London, Penguin Books, 1988 Huntigton Woods, Landmarks Press, 1994 London, Faber&Faber, 2000 Selected Poetry of Yehuda Amichai New York, Harper & Row, 1986 Toronto, Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 1986 Berkeley, University of California Press, 1996 Songs of Jerusalem and Myself New York, Harper & Row, 1973 Time London, Oxford University Press, 1979 New York, Harper & Row, 1979 Travels of a Latter-day Benjamin of Tudela London, Menard, 1977 Missouri , Webster Review,1977 New York, Sheep Meadow Press, 1986 Toronto, Exile Editions, 1986 Mexico City, Ediciones sin Nombre, 2009 Yehuda Amichai : A Life of Poetry, 1948-1994 New York, HarperCollins, 1994 New York, HarperPerennial, 1995 Fiction in English Translation Not of this Time, Not of this Place New York, Harper & Row, 1968 London, Vallentine Mitchell,1973 The World is a Room and Other Stories Philadelphia, Jewish Publication Society of America, 1984 Plays in English Translation Bells and Trains Jerusalem, Kol Israel, 1962 To Love in Jerusalem Jerusalem, Kol Israel, 1984 Visit of the Queen of Sheba Jerusalem, Kol Israel, 1984 Books translated in other languages Poetry Selected Poems Albanian: Tirana, Dituria, 1997 Arabic: Cairo, Dar Shohdi (journal), 1985 Bulgarian: Sofia, Shalom, 1997 Catalan: Barcelona, Ayma, 1972 Catalan: Barcelona, Columna, 1995 Catalan: Barcelona, Proa, 2001 Chinese: Beijing, China Society, 1992 Chinese: Nanjing, Hebei Educational Pub., 2002 (2 volumes) Czech: Prague, Baronet, 1998 Croatian: Pula, Nova Istra, 2005 Croatian: Zagreb, Naklada Boskovic, 2006 Danish: Copenhagen, Husets, 2002 Dutch: Rotterdam, Stichting, 1988 (60 translations for 8 poems - in various languages) Estonian: Tallinn, Loomingu Raamatukogu/Perioodika, 1996 Finnish: Helsinki, Nihil, 1999 French: Arles, Actes Sud, 1985 French: Arles, Actes Sud, 1992 French: Paris, Orientalistes, 1977 French: Asnieres-sur-Seine, Nitabah, 1997 French: Arles, Actes Sud, 2001 French: Zurich, Kiryat Yearim, 2001 French: Nimes, Eclat, 2001; 2008 French: Paris, Gallimard, 2006 German: Munich, Piper, 1988; pback: 1992 German: Zurich, Pendo, 1998 German: Frankfurt, Suhrkamp, 1998 German: Frankfurt, Suhrkamp, 1998, 2000 Gujarati (India): Ithaca, NY, Jerusalem, 1996 Italian: Milano, Crocetti, 1993; 2001 Italian: Rome, Di Renzo, 2000 Japanese: Kyoto, Israeli Embassy in Japan, 1993 Macedonian: Skopje, Kultura, 1995, gemea pagocm, 1995 Norwegian: Oslo, Tiden Norsk, 1998 Polish: Swiat Literacki, Izabelin, 2000 Russian: Tel Aviv, Schocken, 1990 Serbo-Croatian: Gardena, Pokretni Praznik, 1990 Spanish: Jerusalem, La Semana, 1986 Spanish: Delegacion Coyoacan, Vuelta, 1990 Spanish: Mexico, Vuelta, 1986 Spanish: Madrid, Hiperion, 1997 Swedish: Stockholm, Fripress, 1991 Stockholm, Coeckelbergh, 1976 Turkish: Istambul, Oglak/Edebiyat/Siir, 1996 Now and in Other Days Spanish: Granada, Universidad de Granada, 1994 Poems of Jerusalem French: Paris, Eclat, 1991 Japanese: Tokyo, Shichou-sha, 2003 Behind All This Hides a Great Happiness German: Wurzburg, Gesellschaft fur Christlich-Judische Zysammenarbeit, 1981 Spanish: Barcelona, Senor Hidalgo, 2004 Great Tranquillity Dutch: Amsterdam, Meulenhoff, 1988; 1993 Spanish: Madrid, Catedra, 2004 Even a Fist Was Once an Open Palm with Fingers German: Munich, Piper, 1994 Dutch: Amsterdam, Meulenhoff, 1988 Open Eyed Land German, English & Hebrew: Tel Aviv, Shocken, 1992 Open Closed Open Chinese: Shanghai, Shanghai Translation Publishing House, 2007 Fiction and Plays Selected Writing German: Wurzburg, Gesell. Christlich-Judische Zusammenarbeit, 1981 In This Terrible Wind (Short stories) German: Munich, Piper, 1990 French: Nimes, Eclat, 2001 Not of This, Time, Not of This Place (novel) German: Munich, Piper, 1992; Zurich, Pendo, 1998 Bells and Trains (play) French: Jerusalem, Kol Israel, 1962 To Love in Jerusalem (play) French: Jerusalem, Kol Israel, 1984 The Visit of the Queen of Sheba (play) French: Jerusalem, Kol Israel, 1984 Last updated: 5.1.2010 |
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