Chana Bloch (March 15, 1940 – May 19, 2017) was an American poet, translator, and scholar. She was a
professor emerita
''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...
of English at
Mills College
Mills College at Northeastern University is a private college in Oakland, California and part of Northeastern University's global university system. Mills College was founded as the Young Ladies Seminary in 1852 in Benicia, California; it was ...
in
Oakland, California
Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...
.
Life and work
Born as Florence Ina Faerstein in
the Bronx
The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...
, New York, she was a second-generation American, the daughter of Benjamin and Rose (née Rosenberg) Faerstein; her parents were both observant Jews who had immigrated from
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
.
[Grimes, William (June 9, 2017).]
Chana Bloch, Poet and Hebrew Translator, Is Dead at 77
. ''New York Times''. Retrieved 12 June 2017. Print version published June 11, 2017, p. A28, "Chana Bloch, 77, Poet and Translator". Bloch later identified herself as a
Jewish humanist.
Her father was a dentist, and her mother a homemaker.
Bloch earned her B.A. from
Cornell University
Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...
, her M.A. degrees in Judaic Studies and English literature from
Brandeis University
, mottoeng = "Truth even unto its innermost parts"
, established =
, type = Private research university
, accreditation = NECHE
, president = Ronald D. Liebowitz
, pro ...
, and a Ph.D. in English from the University of California at
Berkeley
Berkeley most often refers to:
*Berkeley, California, a city in the United States
**University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California
* George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher
Berkeley may also refer ...
. She taught at Mills College for over thirty years (1973–2005) and directed their Creative Writing Program. Bloch held residencies at the Bellagio Center for Scholars and Artists, the
MacDowell Colony
MacDowell is an artist's residency program in Peterborough, New Hampshire, United States, founded in 1907 by composer Edward MacDowell and his wife, pianist and philanthropist Marian MacDowell. Prior to July 2020, it was known as the MacDowell ...
,
Yaddo
Yaddo is an artists' community located on a estate in Saratoga Springs, New York. Its mission is "to nurture the creative process by providing an opportunity for artists to work without interruption in a supportive environment.". On March  ...
and the Djerassi Resident Artists Program. She gave lectures and poetry readings at numerous U.S. colleges and universities.
Bloch published five collections of her poetry: ''The Secrets of the Tribe'', ''The Past Keeps Changing'', ''Mrs. Dumpty'', ''Blood Honey''.
and ''Swimming in the Rain''. A sixth book is scheduled for publication in Fall 2017, ''The Moon Is Almost Full''. Her work has been published in ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'', ''
Atlantic Monthly
''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science.
It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
'', ''
The Nation
''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper tha ...
'' and included in ''
Best American Poetry
''The Best American Poetry'' series consists of annual poetry anthologies, each containing seventy-five poems.
Background
The series, begun by poet and editor David Lehman in 1988, has a different guest editor every year. Lehman, still the general ...
'', ''
The Pushcart Prize
The Pushcart Prize is an American literary prize published by Pushcart Press that honors the best "poetry, short fiction, essays or literary whatnot" published in the small presses over the previous year. Magazine and small book press editors are i ...
'' and other anthologies. She was the poetry editor of ''Persimmon Tree'', an online journal of the arts by women over sixty.
She was co-translator, with Ariel Bloch, of the biblical ''
Song of Songs''. She translated works by
modern Hebrew poets including ''The Selected Poetry of
Yehuda Amichai
Yehuda Amichai ( he, יהודה עמיחי; born Ludwig Pfeuffer 3 May 1924 – 22 September 2000) was an Israeli poet and author, one of the first to write in colloquial Hebrew in modern times.
Amichai was awarded the 1957 Shlonsky Prize, the ...
''
with
Stephen Mitchell, and Amichai's ''Open Closed Open'', as well as ''Hovering at a Low Altitude: The Collected Poetry of
Dahlia Ravikovitch
Dahlia Ravikovitch ( he, דליה רביקוביץ'; November 17, 1936 – August 21, 2005) was an Israeli poet, translator, and peace activist.
Biography
Ravikovitch was born in Ramat Gan on November 27, 1936. She learned to read and write at t ...
'' with Chana Kronfeld. Bloch was also the author of the critical study, ''Spelling the Word:
George Herbert
George Herbert (3 April 1593 – 1 March 1633) was an English poet, orator, and priest of the Church of England. His poetry is associated with the writings of the metaphysical poets, and he is recognised as "one of the foremost British devoti ...
and the Bible''.
''Chana's Story'', a song cycle by
David Del Tredici
David Walter Del Tredici (born March 16, 1937) is an American composer. He has won a Pulitzer Prize for Music and is a former Guggenheim and Woodrow Wilson fellow. Del Tredici is considered a pioneer of the Neo-Romantic movement. He has also bee ...
based on her work, premiered at the
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA) is a multi-disciplinary contemporary arts center in San Francisco, California, United States. Located in Yerba Buena Gardens, YBCA features visual art, performance, and film/video that celebrates local, natio ...
in
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
.
Jorge Liderman
Jorge Mario Liderman (November 16, 1957 – February 3, 2008) was an Argentine-born American composer. He was awarded the Guggenheim Fellowship in 2003 to partially fund a new work for Duo46 titled Aires de Sefarad: 46 Spanish Songs for Violin and ...
's
cantata
A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir.
The meaning of ...
, ''The Song of Songs'', based on her and Bloch's translation, was performed by the
San Francisco Contemporary Music Players The San Francisco Contemporary Music Players (SFCMP) is a performing arts organization and unionized chamber orchestra that commissions, performs, and records innovative new music from across cultures and stylistic traditions. SFCMP incorporated in ...
and the UC Berkeley Chamber Chorus at Cal Performances.
Bloch won the
Poetry Society of America
The Poetry Society of America is a literary organization founded in 1910 by poets, editors, and artists. It is the oldest poetry organization in the United States. Past members of the society have included such renowned poets as Witter Bynner, Ro ...
's Di Castagnola Award for ''Blood Honey'';
the Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry for ''Mrs. Dumpty''; and the
PEN Award for Poetry in Translation The PEN Award for Poetry in Translation is given by PEN America (formerly PEN American Center) to honor a poetry translation published in the preceding year. The award should not be confused with the PEN Translation Prize. The award is one of many ...
, together with Chana Kronfeld, for ''Open Closed Open''. Her translation of the ''Song of Songs'' was named as a ''
Times Literary Supplement
''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp.
History
The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''The Times'' but became a separate publication ...
'' Book of the Year. Her awards include two fellowships from the
National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...
, in poetry and in translation, a fellowship from the
National Endowment for the Humanities
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preserv ...
, two Pushcart Prizes, and the Discovery Award of the
92nd Street Y
92nd Street Y, New York (92NY) is a cultural and community center located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City, at the corner of East 92nd Street and Lexington Avenue. Founded in 1874 as the Young Men's Hebrew Association, the ...
Poetry Center.
She lived in
Berkeley, California
Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emer ...
. She had two grown sons, Benjamin and Jonathan, from her marriage to Ariel Bloch, a former professor of Semitic Linguistics at UC Berkeley. She married Dave Sutter in 2003.
Death
Chana Bloch died on May 19, 2017 after a prolonged battle with cancer.
Bibliography
Poetry
;Collections
*
*''The Past Keeps Changing'', Sheep Meadow Press (1992)
*''Mrs. Dumpty'',
University of Wisconsin
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...
Press (1998)
*''Blood Honey'',
Autumn House Press
Autumn House Press is an independent, non-profit literary publishing company based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States.
History
Autumn House Press was founded in 1998 by Michael Simms when prominent American publishers, driven by e ...
(2009)
*''Swimming in the Rain: New and Selected Poems'',
Autumn House Press
Autumn House Press is an independent, non-profit literary publishing company based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States.
History
Autumn House Press was founded in 1998 by Michael Simms when prominent American publishers, driven by e ...
(2015)
;List of poems
;Translations
*''Hovering at a Low Altitude: The Collected Poetry of Dahlia Ravikovitch'', with Chana Kronfeld.
W.W. Norton
W. W. Norton & Company is an American publishing company based in New York City. Established in 1923, it has been owned wholly by its employees since the early 1960s. The company is known for its Norton Anthologies (particularly ''The Norton Ant ...
(2009)
*''Open Closed Open'', Yehuda Amichai, with Chana Kronfeld.
Harcourt Brace
Harcourt () was an American publishing firm with a long history of publishing fiction and nonfiction for adults and children. The company was last based in San Diego, California, with editorial/sales/marketing/rights offices in New York City an ...
(2000)
*''Yehuda Amichai: The Selected Poetry'', with Stephen Mitchell.
Harper & Row
Harper is an American publishing house, the flagship imprint of global publisher HarperCollins based in New York City.
History
J. & J. Harper (1817–1833)
James Harper and his brother John, printers by training, started their book publishin ...
(1986). Revised and expanded edition,
University of California Press
The University of California Press, otherwise known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish scholarly and scientific works by faculty ...
(1996)
*''The Song of Songs'', with Ariel Bloch.
Random House
Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...
(1995). Reprinted, University of California Press (1998)
*''The Window'', Dahlia Ravikovitch, with Ariel Bloch. Sheep Meadow Press (1989)
*''A Dress of Fire'', Dahlia Ravikovitch. Sheep Meadow Press (1978)
Non-fiction
*''Spelling the Word: George Herbert and the Bible'', University of California Press (1985)
Notes
External links
Persimmon Tree websiteBloch websiteAutumn House PressThe University of Wisconsin Press.Sheep Meadow Press
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bloch, Chana
1940 births
2017 deaths
American women poets
Brandeis University alumni
Cornell University alumni
Hebrew–English translators
Jewish American poets
Jewish humanists
Mills College faculty
Poets from New York (state)
The New Yorker people
Translators of the Bible into English
Translators to English
UC Berkeley College of Letters and Science alumni
Writers from Berkeley, California
Writers from the Bronx
Writers from the San Francisco Bay Area
Female Bible Translators