|
|
|
 Six
Israeli Novellas (Verba Mundi) by Ruth Almog (Editor), Aharon
Appelfeld, David Grossman, yehudit Hendel ,1999.
The writers whose
work is included in Six Israeli Novellas, edited by Gershon Shaked, possess
a wide range of styles and interests. David Grossman's excellent "Yani
on the Mountain" explores the impact of the 1973 Yom Kippur War on a group
of young Israelis living on an army base that is about to be demolished.
Ruth Almog's "Shrinking" portrays, with the psychological acuity of Virginia
Woolf, a lonely woman's painfully close bond with her father. And Benjamin
Tammuz's "My Brother" is a decidedly contemporary variation on the ancient
story of Jacob and Isaac. The editor's brief, intelligent introduction
to this valuable anthology contains an extremely astute summary of the
many reasons that these novellas are so compelling.
|
|
 The
Loves of Judith by Meir Shalev, Barbara Harshav (Translator) ,1999.
On a precarious
frame--three men contending for the love of one resolutely perplexing woman--Meir
Shalev arrays a tale so bittersweet and lyrical that it's nearly possible
to overlook a stunning bit of sleight of hand: in an unabashed love story,
the romance becomes tangential. For The Loves of Judith is, ultimately,
an hommage to love itself--its elusiveness, its pain, and, above all, its
endurance.
|
|
The
Defiant Muse: Hebrew Feminist Poems from Antiquity to the Present
: A Bilingual Anthology (The Helen Rose Scheuer Jewish Womens Series) by
Shirley Kaufman (Editor), Galit Hasam-Rokem (Editor), Tamar Hess (Editor),
Galit Hasan-Rokem (Editor), 1999.
An impressive
collection of known works and newly discovered feminist pieces in their
original Hebrew and in stunning translations. Biblical and rabbinic literature
is culled for feminist voices; midieval literature from around the world
is mined; 20th century Hebrew poets, including a good number of current
writers, are represented. There are many poems that you'd expect to find
in a collection like this, and many that will be new to you. Bravo to the
editors, themselves poets and translators, for this landmark contribution
to Hebrew feminist literature.
|
|
 The
Hebrew Folktale: History, Genre, Meaning (Folklore Studies in
Translation) by Jacqueline S. Teitelbaum (Translator), Eli Yassif, Dan
Ben-Amos ,1999.
The Hebrew Folktale
seeks to find and define the folk-elements of Jewish culture. Through the
use of generic distinctions and definitions developed in folkloristics,
Yassif describes the major trends-uctural, thematic, functional--of
folk narrative in the central periods of Jewish culture.
Eli Yassif is Professor
of Hebrew literature and Jewish Folklore at Tel-Aviv University. He is
the author of many books, including The Study of Jewish Folklore: An Annotated
Bibliography, The Golem of Prague, and The Knight, the Demon and the Virgin:
An anthology of Hebrew Stories from the Middle Ages.
|
|
 Under
the Domin Tree
by Gila Almagor, Hillel Schenker (Translator), 1995.
A moving story
about three girls coming of age in post-Holocaust Israel. Like most of
the children in Udim, a youth village nestled along Israel's coastal plain,
Aviya, Yola, and Mira share a common sorrow--the pain of longing for lost
loved ones. Through their struggles, the girls find friendship and the
comfort of knowing they're not alone.
This autobiographical book is the basis for the long-running play "Aviya's
Summer" at the Habima National Theater.
|
 Four
Mothers by Shifra Horn, Dalya Bilu (Translator) 1999.
Shifra Horn's
beautifully imagined novel tells the story of four generations of women
in one family against the background of one hundred years in Jerusalem.
Read
more...
|
Shai
Agnon |
A
Simple Story (Library of Modern Jewish Literature) by Shmuel
Yosef Agnon, Hillel Halkin (Translator), Schmuel Yoseph Agnon This edition
2000.
"A mystical
journey to the jewish east european town "
|
 Only
Yesterday by Shmuel Yosef Agnon, Barbara Harshav (Translator),
Benjamin Harshav (Introduction) May 2000.
|
|
The
Bridal Canopy (Library of Modern Jewish Literature) by Shmuel Yosef
Agnon, I. M. Lask. June, 2000. |
A.B.
Yehoshua |
|
 A
Journey to the End of the Millennium - A Novel of the Middle Ages
by A. B. Yehoshua, Andre Bernard, 2000.
The year is 999
and the protagonist is Ben Attar, a North African Jewish merchant. Yehoshua's
tale is more than just a travelog through the Europe of the 10th century;
it is also a meditation on religion, law, and the differences between the
European Sephardic tradition and that of the Middle Eastern Ashkenazic
Jews--differences that echo the current social and ideological conflicts
within Israel today.
|
|
 The
Lover (Harvest in Translation Series) by Abraham B. Yehoshua,
Philip Simpson (Translator), 1993.
"A
well done "fresco" of contradictions in the Israeli society."
|
|
The
Continuing Silence of a Poet: The Collected Stories of A.B. Yehoshua
(Library of Modern Jewish Literature) by Abraham B. Yehoshua ,1998. |
|
 A
Late Divorce (Harvest in Translation Series) by Abraham B. Yehoshua
1993.
"I have rarely
laughed so much, or been touched so much, by the insightful description
of the Kaminka family and their travails over a failed marriage, real estate
and conflict."
|
Amos
Oz |
|
A
Perfect Peace (Harvest in Translation) by Amoz Oz, Halkin Hillel
(Translator), Amos Oz, Hillel Halkin (Translator), 1993.
"Hailed by
Publishers Weekly as "magnificent," this moving novel is set in Israel
just before the Six-Day War, and describes life on a kibbutz, where the
founders of Israel and their children struggle to come to terms with their
land and with each other. "(Oz's) strangest, riskiest, and richest novel."--Washington
Post Book World.
|
|
 Elsewhere,
Perhaps by Amos Oz, Nicholas de Lange (Translator) ,1985. |
|
 Don't
Call It Night (Harvest in Translation) by Amos Oz, Nicholas De
Lange (Translator),1998.
"Amid the
chaos of modern-day Israel is the pattern of daily life: people awake,
have tea, enjoy meals, and take baths. Such is the beauty of life and of
Don't Call It Night, the 11th novel by Amos Oz, one of Israel's true native
voices. In the small desert town of Tel Kedar, the setting for Oz's narrative,
the lives of 60-year-old Theo and his lover, Noa, are indeed simple, yet
are far from uneventful. ...Details are revealed about Theo and Noa's relationship
and the lives of members of the community, all of which tell the larger
story of Israel, death, and peace."
|
|
 Fima
by Amos Oz, Nicholas De Lange (Translator),1994.
"With rare
wit, intimate knowledge of the human heart, and his usual storytelling
mastery, one of Israel's most highly acclaimed writers and the author of
A Perfect Peace portrays a man--and a generation--that dreams noble dreams
but does nothing. The New York Times hailed Fima as nothing less than "(an)
astonishing novel." A Notable Book of the Year. "
|
Chaim
Nachman Bialik |
|
 Random
Harvest: The Novellas of C. N. Bialik by Hayyim Nahman Bialik
(Translator), David Patterson (Translator), Ezra Spicehandler (Translator)
,1999.
Chaim Nachman Bialik
(1873-1934) is celebrated as one of the leading figures in modern Jewish
literature. Although most famous for his Hebrew poems, Bialik was also
a master of short prose. Often expressing a realism and social awareness
associated with the Russia of his youth, Bialik's stories showcase his
gift for lyricism, his deft use of symbolism, and his sense of humor, captured
in engaging vignettes of life in the Ukrainian countryside.
|
|
 The
Book of Legends Sefer Ha-Aggadah: Legends from the Talmud and
Midrash by Hayyim Nahman Bialik (Editor), Yehoshua Hana Ravnitzky (Editor),
Hayim N. Bialik (Editor) ,1992.
One of the best-loved
anthologies of rabbinic lore, The Book of Legends is a melange of fantasy,
satire, wisdom, and piety. One of the best-loved anthologies of rabbinic
lore has been compiled by Hebrew poet laureate Hayim Nahman Bialik and
noted Hebrew editor and publisher Yehoshua Hana Ravnitzky and translated
from the Hebrew by William G. Braude. Offers a wide spectrum of Jewish
literary inventiveness on a variety of topics including God, good and evil,
and humans and society.
|
Yehuda
Amichai |
|
 The
Selected Poetry of Yehuda Amichai (Literature of the Middle East)
by Yehuda Amichai, Chana Bloch (Translator), Stephen Mitchell (Translator)
,1996.
Yehuda Amichai
is Israel's most popular poet as well as a literary figure of international
reputation. His poetry has been translated into more than thirty languages.
Renowned translators Chana Bloch and Stephen Mitchell have selected Amichai's
most beloved and enduring poems from his eleven volumes and have included
forty new poems from his recent work in this revised and expanded collection.
|
|
Travels
by Yehuda Amichai, 1986.
Startling autobiographical
images, chronologically linked, help the reader establish a connection
with the thought process at work in Amichai's other poems. Juxtaposing
biblical references and everyday objects, it not only captures but transforms
an entire life. This poem might well be Amichai's most important work to
date.
|
|
|
Shai Agnon 