Aharon Amir ( he, אהרן אמיר, January 5, 1923 – February 28, 2008) was an
Israeli
Israeli may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the State of Israel
* Israelis, citizens or permanent residents of the State of Israel
* Modern Hebrew, a language
* ''Israeli'' (newspaper), published from 2006 to 2008
* Guni Israeli ...
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
poet, a literary translator and a writer.
Biography
Aharon Amir was born in
Kaunas
Kaunas (; ; also see other names) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the largest city and the centre of a county in the Duchy of Trakai ...
,
Lithuania
Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...
. He moved to Palestine with his family in 1933 and grew up in
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...
. His father,
Meir Lipec, was later director of the publishing house Am Oved. He attended
Gymnasia Herzliya
The Herzliya Hebrew Gymnasium ( he, הַגִּימְנַסְיָה הָעִבְרִית הֶרְצְלִיָּה, ''HaGymnasia HaIvrit Herzliya'', Also known as ''Gymnasia Herzliya''), originally known as HaGymnasia HaIvrit (lit. Hebrew High Scho ...
high school. At the time of the
British Mandate in Palestine, while studying
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
Language and Literature at the
Hebrew University
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Dr. Chaim Weiz ...
, Amir was a member of the
Irgun
Irgun • Etzel
, image = Irgun.svg , image_size = 200px
, caption = Irgun emblem. The map shows both Mandatory Palestine and the Emirate of Transjordan, which the Irgun claimed in its entirety for a future Jewish state. The acronym "Etzel" i ...
and
Lehi undergrounds as well as a founding member of the
Canaanite movement (
canaanism
Canaanism was a cultural and ideological movement founded in 1939 that reached its peak in the 1940s among the Jews of Mandatory Palestine. It has had significant effect on the course of Israeli art, literature and spiritual and political thoug ...
),
which saw Hebrew or Israeli culture as defined by geographical location rather than religious affiliation. Amir was married to Bettine, a poet and painter. He had three children from a previous marriage.
He died of cancer on February 28, 2008, at the age of 85, and left his body to science.
Literary career
Amir translated over 300 books into Hebrew, including
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
and
French classics by
Melville,
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...
,
Camus
Albert Camus ( , ; ; 7 November 1913 – 4 January 1960) was a French philosopher, author, dramatist, and journalist. He was awarded the 1957 Nobel Prize in Literature at the age of 44, the second-youngest recipient in history. His works ...
,
Lewis Carroll
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (; 27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet and mathematician. His most notable works are ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (1865) and its sequel ...
,
Joseph Conrad
Joseph Conrad (born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, ; 3 December 1857 – 3 August 1924) was a Poles in the United Kingdom#19th century, Polish-British novelist and short story writer. He is regarded as one of the greatest writers in t ...
and
Virginia Woolf
Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer, considered one of the most important modernist 20th-century authors and a pioneer in the use of stream of consciousness as a narrative device.
Woolf was born i ...
,
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe (; Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is wide ...
,
Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century fic ...
,
John Steinbeck
John Ernst Steinbeck Jr. (; February 27, 1902 – December 20, 1968) was an American writer and the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature winner "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humor and keen social ...
,
Emily Brontë
Emily Jane Brontë (, commonly ; 30 July 1818 – 19 December 1848) was an English novelist and poet who is best known for her only novel, ''Wuthering Heights'', now considered a classic of English literature. She also published a book of poet ...
and
O. Henry.
[ He also translated works by ]Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...
and Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (; ; (commonly abbreviated as CDG) 22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French army officer and statesman who led Free France against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government ...
. He founded and edited the literary magazine ''Keshet'', which he closed in 1976 after eighteen years of publication to concentrate on his own writing. In 1998, the magazine was revived as ''The New Keshet''.
He was often known in Israel thanks to a popular song by Meir Ariel
Meir Ariel ( he, מאיר אריאל; March 2, 1942 – July 18, 1999) was an Israeli singer-songwriter and guitarist.
He was known as a "man of words" for his poetic use of the Hebrew language in his lyrics. His influences included Hebrew poe ...
, which cited Amir's translation of Hemingway's '' Islands in the Stream''.[
]
Awards and recognition
* In 1951, Amir was awarded the Tchernichovsky Prize
Tchernichovsky Prize is an Israeli prize awarded to individuals for exemplary works of translation into Hebrew.
History
The Tchernichovsky Prize is awarded by the municipality of Tel Aviv-Yafo. for exemplary translation.
* In 2003, he was awarded the Israel Prize
The Israel Prize ( he, פרס ישראל; ''pras israél'') is an award bestowed by the State of Israel, and regarded as the state's highest cultural honor.
History
The Israel Prize is awarded annually, on Israeli Independence Day, in a state cer ...
, for translation.
Publications
Books Published in Hebrew
* ''Qadim'' (poetry), Machbarot Lesifrut, 1949 adim* ''Love'' (stories), Machbarot Lesifrut, 1951 hava* ''And Death Shall Have No Dominion'' (novel), Zohar, 1955 e-Lo Tehi La-Mavet Memshala* ''Seraph'' (poetry), Machbarot Lesifrut, 1956 araph* ''Nun'' (trilogy), Massada, 1969-1989 un* ''Yated'' (poetry), Levin-Epstein, 1970 ated* ''Prose'' (stories), Hadar, 1972 roza* ''A Perfect World'' (novel), Massada, 1975 lam She-Kullo Tov* ''A Separate Peace'' (poetry), Massada, 1979 halom Nifrad* ''Aphrodite or the Organized Tour'' (novella), Ma'ariv, 1984 froditi o Ha-Tiyul Ha-Meurgan* ''Heres'' (poetry), Zmora Bitan
Kinneret Zmora-Bitan Dvir is one of Israel's largest book publishing companies.
History
The company's oldest imprint, Dvir, was founded in Odessa in 1919 by Hayim Nahman Bialik. , 1984 eres
Eres (English: "You Are") may refer to:
* "Eres" (Alejandro Fernández song), 2008
* "Eres" (Café Tacuba song), 2003
* "Eres", a song by Anahí from her album ''Inesperado'', 2016
* "Eres", a song by José María Napoleón, 1975, later covered ...
* ''The Clouds Return After the Rain'' (poetry), Bialik Institute/Machbarot Lesifrut, 1991 e-Shavu He-Avim Ahar Ha-Geshem* ''Aaron's Rod'' (poetry), Zmora Bitan, 1996 ate Aharon* ''The Villains'' (novel), 1998 a-Nevalimref name=translation/>
Books in Translation
* And Death Shall Have No Dominion(Le soldats du matin); French: Paris, Le Seuil, 1961[
]
See also
*List of Israel Prize recipients
This is a complete list of recipients of the Israel Prize from the inception of the Prize in 1953 through to 2022.
List
For each year, the recipients are, in most instances, listed in the order in which they appear on the official Israel Prize ...
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Amir, Aharon
Herzliya Hebrew Gymnasium alumni
Israel Prize in literature recipients
Israel Prize in translation recipients
Jewish poets
Israeli poets
Lithuanian Jews
Lithuanian emigrants to Mandatory Palestine
Israeli people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent
1923 births
2008 deaths
Canaanites (movement)
Israeli translators
English–Hebrew translators
French–Hebrew translators
20th-century translators
20th-century poets
Betar members
Recipients of Prime Minister's Prize for Hebrew Literary Works