Yizhar Smilansky (, 27 September 1916 – 21 August 2006), known by his
pen name S. Yizhar (), was an Israeli writer and politician. Widely regarded as one of the preeminent figures in
Israeli literature
Israeli literature is literature written in the State of Israel by Israelis. Most works classed as Israeli literature are written in the Hebrew language, although some Israeli authors write in Yiddish, English, Arabic and Russian. History Heb ...
, he was awarded the
Israel Prize in 1959 for
fine literature. He was also
awarded several other prizes of national distinction. In his political life, Yizhar served in the
Knesset
The Knesset ( he, הַכְּנֶסֶת ; "gathering" or "assembly") is the unicameral legislature of Israel. As the supreme state body, the Knesset is sovereign and thus has complete control of the entirety of the Israeli government (with ...
under
Mapai
Mapai ( he, מַפָּא"י, an acronym for , ''Mifleget Poalei Eretz Yisrael'', lit. "Workers' Party of the Land of Israel") was a democratic socialist political party in Israel, and was the dominant force in Israeli politics until its merger in ...
almost continuously from 1949-1967.
Biography
Yizhar Smilansky was born in
Rehovot to a family of writers. His great uncle was Israeli writer
Moshe Smilansky
Moshe Smilansky ( he, משה סמילנסקי; February 24, 1874 – October 6, 1953) was a pioneer of the First Aliyah, a Zionist leader who advocated peaceful coexistence with the Arabs in Mandatory Palestine, a farmer, and a prolific author ...
. His father, Zev Zass Smilensky, was also a writer. After the end of
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, the family moved to
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 ...
where Yizhar attended the Balfour school. The family returned to Rehovot when he was 11. After earning a degree in education from the
Beit Hakerem Seminar in
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
, Yizhar taught in
Yavniel
Yavne'el ( he, יַבְנְאֵל, ar, يفنيئيل) is a moshava and local council in the Northern District of Israel. Founded in 1901, it is one of the oldest rural Jewish communities in the country. According to the Israel Central Bureau o ...
,
Ben Shemen
Ben Shemen ( he, בֶּן שֶׁמֶן, ''lit.'' very fruitful) is a moshav in central Israel. Located around four kilometres east of Lod, it falls under the jurisdiction of Hevel Modi'in Regional Council. In it had a population of .
Etymolog ...
,
Hulda, and Rehovot. He served as an intelligence officer in the
Israel Defense Forces during the
1948 Arab-Israeli War.
Yizhar married Naomi Wollman in 1942. They had three children, Yisrael (born 1942), Hila (born 1944), and Ze'ev (born 1954).
Literary career
From the end of the 1930s to the 1950s, Yizhar published short novellas, among them ''Ephraim Goes Back to Alfalfa'', ''On the Edge of the Negev'', ''The Wood on the Hill'', ''A Night Without Shootings'', ''Journey to the Evening's Shores'', ''Midnight Convoy'', as well as several collections of short stories. His
pen name was given to him by the poet and editor Yitzhak Lamdan, when in 1938 he published Yizhar's first story ''Ephraim Goes Back to Alfalfa'' in his literary journal ''Galleons''. From then on, Yizhar signed his works with his pen name.
In 1949, he published the novella ''
Khirbet Khizeh
''Khirbet Khizeh'' (Hebrew: חִרְבֶּת חִזְעָה, also ''Hirbet Hizeh, Hirbet Hizah'') is a historical fiction novel by Israeli writer S. Yizhar which was published in 1949, and deals with the expulsion of the fictional village of '' ...
'', in which he described the fictional expulsion of Palestinian Arabs from their fictional village by the
IDF
IDF or idf may refer to:
Defence forces
* Irish Defence Forces
* Israel Defense Forces
*Iceland Defense Force, of the US Armed Forces, 1951-2006
* Indian Defence Force, a part-time force, 1917
Organizations
* Israeli Diving Federation
* Interac ...
during the
1948 Arab-Israeli War. It became a best-seller and in 1964 was included in the Israeli high school curriculum. In 1978, a controversy arose after a dramatization of ''Khirbet Khizeh'' by director
Ram Loevy was aired on Israeli television. Shapira has lamented that, despite the publishing of Yizhar's novella decades earlier,
Benny Morris was able, when he published ''The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem, 1947–1949'' in 1988, to announce "himself as the man who had laid bare the original sin of the State of Israel".
In the late 1950s, his massive work ''
Days of Ziklag'' appeared, comprising two volumes and more than a thousand pages. This work had a powerful impact on changing the outlook for Hebrew prose on the one hand, and "war literature" on the other.
Although Yizhar remained in the public eye as an outstanding polemicist, he broke his decades-long literary silence only in 1992 with the publication of his novel, ''Mikdamot'' (Preliminaries). This was quickly followed by five additional new volumes of prose, both novels and collections of short stories, including ''Tsalhavim'', ''Etsel Ha-Yam'' (At Sea), ''Tsedadiyim'' (Asides), and ''Malkomyah Yefehfiyah'' (Beautiful Malcolmia). His last work, ''Gilui Eliahu'' (Discovering Elijah), set in the period of the
Yom Kippur War
The Yom Kippur War, also known as the Ramadan War, the October War, the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, or the Fourth Arab–Israeli War, was an armed conflict fought from October 6 to 25, 1973 between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by E ...
, was published in 1999 and later adapted for the stage. The play won first prize at the
Acco Festival of Alternative Israeli Theatre
The Acco Festival of Alternative Israeli Theatre (also Acco Fringe Theatre Festival, Israel Fringe Theatre Festival) is a four-day performing arts festival held annually in the city of Acre, Israel during the Intermediate Days of the Sukkot ...
in 2001. Yizhar also wrote stories for children in which he contended with the defining themes of his youth, as in ''Oran and Ange'' concerning the Israeli cultivation of citrus fruits; ''Uncle Moshe's Chariot'', a memoir of the character of his famous great uncle
Moshe Smilansky
Moshe Smilansky ( he, משה סמילנסקי; February 24, 1874 – October 6, 1953) was a pioneer of the First Aliyah, a Zionist leader who advocated peaceful coexistence with the Arabs in Mandatory Palestine, a farmer, and a prolific author ...
; and others.
Academic career
Yizhar was a professor of education at the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In 1986-7 he was Visiting Writer at the Center for Jewish Studies at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
. He was a lecturer at
Levinsky College 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 ...
into the late 1990s.
Political career
Yizhar was elected to the
first Knesset
Constituent Assembly elections were held in newly independent Israel on 25 January 1949. Voter turnout was 86.9%. Two days after its first meeting on 14 February 1949, legislators voted to change the name of the body to the Knesset (Hebrew: כ ...
in 1949, remaining a Knesset member until the
1955 elections. He returned to the Knesset in October 1956 as a replacement for
Aharon Becker
Aharon Becker ( he, אהרן בקר, 21 December 1905 – 24 December 1995) was an Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset between 1955 and 1974.
Biography
Born in Kobryn in the Russian Empire (today in Belarus), Becker was educ ...
. In 1965 he defected to
David Ben-Gurion
David Ben-Gurion ( ; he, דָּוִד בֶּן-גּוּרִיּוֹן ; born David Grün; 16 October 1886 – 1 December 1973) was the primary national founder of the State of Israel and the first prime minister of Israel. Adopting the nam ...
's new
Rafi party, but resigned from the Knesset on 20 February 1967. He subsequently joined Ben-Gurion's new
National List and was given the symbolic 120th place on its list for the
1969 elections.
Literary style
Yizhar's early work was influenced by
Uri Nissan Gnessin
Uri Nissan Gnessin (1879–1913) was a Russian-Jewish writer and a pioneer in modern Hebrew literature.
Early life
He was born in Starodub, and grew up in the small town of Pochep, Orel province. His father was a rabbi and the head of a yeshiva ...
. His knowledge of Israeli
geology
Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ea ...
,
geomorphology,
climate
Climate is the long-term weather pattern in an area, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteorologi ...
, and flora is evident in his landscape descriptions and his emphasis on the relationship between person and place. Yizhar's use of language is unique. With his long sentences and combination of literary Hebrew and street jargon, he draws the reader into his heroes' stream of consciousness.
Awards
* In 1959, Yizhar was awarded the
Israel Prize for his literary merits
* In 1959, he was awarded the
Brenner Prize
The Brenner Prize is an Israeli literary prize awarded annually by the Hebrew Writers Association in Israel and the Haft Family Foundation.
It was founded in the name of the author Yosef Haim Brenner
Yosef Haim Brenner ( he, יוֹסֵף חַ ...
for literature.
* In 1960, he was awarded the
Lamdan Prize for children's literature.
* In 1991, he was awarded the
Bialik Prize
The Bialik Prize is an annual literary award given by the municipality of Tel Aviv, Israel, for significant accomplishments in Hebrew literature. The prize is named in memory of Israel's national poet Hayyim Nahman Bialik
Hayim Nahman Bialik ...
for literature.
* In 2002, he received the annual Israeli
EMET Prize
The EMET Prize for Art, Science and Culture is an Israeli prize awarded annually for excellence in academic and professional achievements that have far-reaching influence and make a significant contribution to society.
Prizes are awarded in the fol ...
for Art, Science and Culture.
* He is also the recipient of the David Ben-Gurion Award.
See also
*
List of Israel Prize recipients
*
List of Bialik Prize recipients
The Bialik Prize is an annual literary award given by the municipality of Tel Aviv, Israel, for significant accomplishments in Hebrew literature. The prize is named in memory of Israel's national poet Hayyim Nahman Bialik
Hayim Nahman Biali ...
*''
Khirbet Khizeh
''Khirbet Khizeh'' (Hebrew: חִרְבֶּת חִזְעָה, also ''Hirbet Hizeh, Hirbet Hizah'') is a historical fiction novel by Israeli writer S. Yizhar which was published in 1949, and deals with the expulsion of the fictional village of '' ...
''
References
External links
Works of S. Yizharat the
Jewish National and University Library
The National Library of Israel (NLI; he, הספרייה הלאומית, translit=HaSifria HaLeumit; ar, المكتبة الوطنية في إسرائيل), formerly Jewish National and University Library (JNUL; he, בית הספרים הלא ...
of the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
*
*Elisha Porat,
From the Edge of the North to the ''Edge of the Negev'', essay on the sources of S. Yizhar's work, on the site "Literatura" (in Hebrew)
*Joseph Galron-Goldschläger, editor.
S. Yizhar, in ''Modern Hebrew Literature: a Bio-Bibliographical Lexicon'' (in Hebrew).
S. Yizhar bibliography at the Institute for Translation of Hebrew Literature
'It is a filthy war, this' Haaretz obit by Yitzhak Laor, 25 Aug 2006
Yizhar Smilansky Guardian obituary by Lawrence Joffe, 24 August 2006
English excerpt from Yizhar's autobiographical novel "Preliminaries"* Khirbet Khizeh, English translatio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yizhar, S.
1916 births
2006 deaths
Academic staff of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Jews in Mandatory Palestine
Israeli Jews
Jewish novelists
Hebrew-language writers
Brenner Prize recipients
Israel Prize in literature recipients
Israeli male short story writers
Israeli short story writers
Israeli novelists
Mapai politicians
Rafi (political party) politicians
National List politicians
Academic staff of Tel Aviv University
Members of the 1st Knesset (1949–1951)
Members of the 2nd Knesset (1951–1955)
Members of the 3rd Knesset (1955–1959)
Members of the 4th Knesset (1959–1961)
Members of the 5th Knesset (1961–1965)
Members of the 6th Knesset (1965–1969)
20th-century novelists
20th-century short story writers
20th-century male writers
Recipients of Prime Minister's Prize for Hebrew Literary Works