(A small town in southern Poland is the scene of this bitt...)
A small town in southern Poland is the scene of this bittersweet romance set at the turn of the century. Celebrated Israeli novelist, S. Y. Agnon draws on techniques perfected by Gustave Flaubert and Thomas Mann to contrast the hero's romantic longings with the interests in bourgeois society.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0815606184/?tag=2022091-20
(Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1966, S. Y. Agno...)
Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1966, S. Y. Agnon is considered the towering genius of modern Hebrew literature for his hard-edged modernism and soft-hued imagery. With this new collection of stories, the English-speaking audience has, at long last, access to the rich and brilliantly multifaceted fictional world of one of the great writers of this century. These stories span the lifetime of a quintessential wandering Jew - born in Buczacz, Poland, living in Germany, and finally settling in Jerusalem - and they bring to life the full gamut of the modern Jewish experience in fiction. This broad selection of Agnon's fiction introduces the full sweep of the writer's panoramic vision as chronicler of the lost world of Eastern European Jewry and the emerging society of modern Israel. Here are stories that portray the richly textured culture of traditional Jewish life in Poland, as well as changes in the life of the community over time. Several stories reflect on the Jewish infatuation with German and Western culture in the interwar period: "On the Road," for example, narrates an eerie encounter on the eve of a holy day between an itinerant Jew and a ghostly company of martyred Jews from the Crusades. The early years of Jewish settlement in the land of Israel are recalled in "Hill of Sand," which is also a revealing portrait of the artist as a young man; "A Book That Was Lost" is a powerful metaphor for the writer's own journey from Buczacz to Jerusalem.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0805241205/?tag=2022091-20
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0805201009/?tag=2022091-20
(The love affair between the middle-aged Professor Manfred...)
The love affair between the middle-aged Professor Manfred Herbst and Shira, an enigmatic Israeli nurse whose outspokenness and coarseness both attract and repel Herbst, is set against the backdrop of Jerusalem under British rule
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(Nine Polish peasants embark on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem ...)
Nine Polish peasants embark on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in the late eighteenth century
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( Compiled by S.Y. Agnon, one of the greatest Hebrew writ...)
Compiled by S.Y. Agnon, one of the greatest Hebrew writers of the twentieth century and winner of the 1966 Nobel Prize in Literature, Days of Awe is the long-acknowledged classic companion to the High Holy Days prayerbook. Here in one volume are readings from the meditations from the Bible, the Talmud, the Midrash, and the Zohar, to deepen the spiritual experience of the holiest days of the Jewish year. More than three hundred texts. selected from the vast storehouse of Jewish literature from ancient to modern times, are arranged to follow the order of the synagogue service for the High Holy Days. "From the moment of its appearance," writes Judah Goldin in the Introduction, "this volume seemed as though it had always been here, as though it had always been the companion of the holiday prayerbook."
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0805210482/?tag=2022091-20
(Recipient of the 1966 Nobel Prize for Literature, Shmuel ...)
Recipient of the 1966 Nobel Prize for Literature, Shmuel Yosef Agnon was born in Galicia in 1888. In this book he describes the adventures of immigrants travelling from Poland to the Holy Land a century and a half ago.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000GKC14M/?tag=2022091-20
( An Association of Jewish Librarians Best of the Bunch B...)
An Association of Jewish Librarians Best of the Bunch Book Known for his ability to evoke the rich imagery of the Bible and ancient Israel, Nobel Laureate S. Y. Agnon created a witty poem for each letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Imaginative illustrations and dual-language Hebrew-English text make Agnons Alef Bet a much-treasured collection.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0827605994/?tag=2022091-20
(This broad selection of Agnon's fiction introduces the fu...)
This broad selection of Agnon's fiction introduces the full sweep of the writer's panoramic vision as chronicler of the lost world of Eastern European Jewry and the emerging society of modern Israel. Expanded Edition, Including all stories from Twenty-One Stories.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1592642543/?tag=2022091-20
On July 17, 1888, S. Y. Agnon was born Shmuel Yoseph Czaczkes in the town of Buszacz, Eastern Galicia (then part of Austro-Hungary). His father was descended from a long line of Talmudic scholars. His mother's side had ties to the Mitnagdim.
He did not attend school and was schooled by his parents. In addition to studying Jewish texts, Agnon studied writings of the Haskalah, and was also tutored in German.
As a youth of 15, Shmuel began to publish his stories and poems in Hebrew and Yiddish. In 1908 he arrived in Palestine, where young halutzim (pioneers) were establishing the base for a Jewish state. There he assumed the name of Agnon, and his fame as an original and colorful novelist began to spread. Dwelling chiefly on Hasidic folklore and legend, his tales captured the spirit and flavor of a way of life deeply rooted in Jewish tradition. From 1913 to 1924 Agnon lived in Germany. While in Germany, he collaborated with Martin Buber on a book of Hasidic tales. In 1924 he returned to Palestine and settled in Jerusalem, a city to which he always remained deeply attached. Agnon's works mirror Jewish life from the 18th century to the present. In The Bridal Canopy (1931) he unfolds a picaresque tale of a pious man, Reb Yudel Hasid, who travels throughout town and village to solicit dowries for his three marriageable daughters. This work is set in a world bygone, anchored in faith and governed by a benevolent providence. This seemingly simple, pietistic way of life is also reflected in a shorter novel, In the Heart of the Seas (1935), which tells of the journey of a group of Hasidim to the land of their ancestors in the early 19th century. In A Simple Story (1935) and A Guest for the Night (1939) the reader is ushered into the 20th century with its new and threatening forces. A Guest for the Night is based on Agnon's journey to his birthplace in the mid-19306. World War I has shattered the old faith and traditions and on the horizon looms the still greater menace of World War II. Yesteryear (1945) is based on Agnon's experiences in Palestine before World War I. The protagonist of the novel, Yitzhak Kumer, is a somewhat weak, naive, and simple pioneer in search of self-fulfillment but overwhelmed by problems. The work tells the deeply moving story of characters struggling to turn an age-old dream into reality. In the last decades of his life, stirred by the atrocities of World War II, Agnon infused new currents and nuances into his writings. His stories became more symbolic and took on a Kafkaesque quality. In Betrothed, A Whole Loaf, and Edo and Enam, Agnon appears as a master of enigma. The settings of these later works are often phantasmagoric, and the plots are frequently parables of the vicissitudes of modern life. Through Midrashic and mystic allusions, Agnon provides the key for deciphering the hidden meanings of these later tales. S. Y. Agnon died on Feb. 17, 1970, and was buried on the Mount of Olives with great honors.
His works deal with the conflict between the traditional Jewish life and language and the modern world. They also attempt to recapture the fading traditions of the European shtetl (village). In a wider context, he also contributed to broadening the characteristic conception of the narrator's role in literature. Agnon shared the Nobel Prize with the poet Nelly Sachs in 1966.
(The love affair between the middle-aged Professor Manfred...)
(This broad selection of Agnon's fiction introduces the fu...)
( An Association of Jewish Librarians Best of the Bunch B...)
(A small town in southern Poland is the scene of this bitt...)
(Recipient of the 1966 Nobel Prize for Literature, Shmuel ...)
(Nine Polish peasants embark on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem ...)
(Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1966, S. Y. Agno...)
( Compiled by S.Y. Agnon, one of the greatest Hebrew writ...)
Quotations:
"If we eat any food, or drink any beverage, we must recite a blessing over them before and after. "
"Who were my mentors in poetry and literature? This is a matter of opinion. Some see in my books the influences of authors whose names, in my ignorance, I have not even heard, while others see the influences of poets whose names I have heard but whose writings I have not read. And what is my opinion? From whom did I receive nurture? Not every man remembers the name of the cow which supplied him with each drop of milk he has drunk. "
"Our days on earth are like a shadow, and the time of our affliction is the length of our days. "
"It is not enough for a man to dwell in the Land of Israel, he must also pray to be free. "
"On everything you need to hear other people's opinions. It's the only way to do things. You ask a friend's advice and then between the two of you things somehow get clearer. "
"God in heaven sits on high and plays games with us. He has plenty to do up there, what with building worlds and then knocking them down again, breaking things up and then rebuilding them, and yet he can manage to put his mind even to a little grocer in his shop or to a babe in the cradle. "
"But perhaps the truth newly discovered is itself only temporary and when new discoveries are made these truths too will be abandoned. But one truth remains for ever, and that is the search for truth. "
In Germany he married Esther Marks. They later had a son and a daughter.
