Yoel Hoffmann (born 1937) is a contemporary

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...

ish author,

editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, orga ...

scholar A scholar is a person who pursues academic and intellectual activities, particularly academics who apply their intellectualism into expertise in an area of study. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researche ...

and

translator Translation is the communication of the Meaning (linguistic), meaning of a #Source and target languages, source-language text by means of an Dynamic and formal equivalence, equivalent #Source and target languages, target-language text. The ...

. He is currently a professor of

Japanese poetry Japanese poetry is poetry typical of Japan, or written, spoken, or chanted in the Japanese language, which includes Old Japanese, Early Middle Japanese, Late Middle Japanese, and Modern Japanese, as well as poetry in Japan which was written in t ...

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...

, and

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

at the

University of Haifa The University of Haifa ( he, אוניברסיטת חיפה Arabic: جامعة حيفا) is a university located on Mount Carmel in Haifa, Israel. Founded in 1963, the University of Haifa received full academic accreditation in 1972, becoming Is ...

and lives in

Galilee Galilee (; he, הַגָּלִיל, hagGālīl; ar, الجليل, al-jalīl) is a region located in northern Israel and southern Lebanon. Galilee traditionally refers to the mountainous part, divided into Upper Galilee (, ; , ) and Lower Galil ...

Biography

Born in Braşov,

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

to Jewish parents of

Austro-Hungarian Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

culture, at the age of one Hoffmann and his parents fled a Europe increasingly under

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

influence for the

British Mandate of Palestine British Mandate of Palestine or Palestine Mandate most often refers to: * Mandate for Palestine: a League of Nations mandate under which the British controlled an area which included Mandatory Palestine and the Emirate of Transjordan. * Mandatory P ...

. Shortly after the move, Hoffmann's mother died and he was entrusted by his father to an orphanage where he spent his time until his father remarried. As a young man, Hoffmann left his home in Israel and traveled to

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, where he spent two years living in a

Zen Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), and ...

monastery and studying

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

and Japanese texts with monks. He would later return to Japan to earn his

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

. Hoffmann did not begin writing fiction until in his forties, and though chronologically a member of the sixties "Generation of the State," his work is oft-described as being on the forefront of

avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...

Hebrew literature Hebrew literature consists of ancient, medieval, and modern writings in the Hebrew language. It is one of the primary forms of Jewish literature, though there have been cases of literature written in Hebrew by non-Jews. Hebrew literature was pro ...

, with an influence of his Japanese studies discernible in his works. Hoffmann's first book of fiction, ''Kätzchen - The Book of Joseph'', was published in Hebrew in 1988. He has since gone on to write ten more books in Hebrew, seven of which have been translated into English and published by New Directions; these seven are ''Katschen and The Book of Joseph'' (1998), ''Bernhard'' (1998), ''The Christ of Fish'' (1999), ''The Heart is Katmandu'' (2001), ''The Shunra and the Schmetterling'' (2004), ''Curriculum Vitae'' (2009), and ''Moods'' (2015). Hoffmann was awarded the first ever

Koret Jewish Book Award The Koret Jewish Book Award is an annual award that recognizes "recently published books on any aspect of Jewish life in the categories of biography/autobiography and literary studies, fiction, history and philosophy/thought published in, or transla ...

, as well as 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 Biali ...

by the city of

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 ...

and the Prime Minister's Prize. The rights to Hoffmann's latest book, ''Moods'', were sold to Galaade publishing company in France and to Keter Books in Israel in 2010.

Selected bibliography

Writings by the author

*''Katschen and The Book of Joseph'', trans. from Hebrew by Eddie Levenston, David Kriss, and Alan Treister, New Directions (New York, NY) 1998. *''Bernhard'', trans. from Hebrew by Alan Treister & Eddie Levenston, New Directions (New York, NY), 1998. *''The Christ of Fish'', trans. from Hebrew by Eddie Levenston, New Directions (New York, NY), 1999. *''The Heart is Katmandu'', trans. from Hebrew by

Peter Cole Peter Cole is a MacArthur-winning poet and translator who lives in Jerusalem and New Haven. Cole was born in 1957 in Paterson, New Jersey. He attended Williams College and Hampshire College, and moved to Jerusalem in 1981. He has been called "o ...

, New Directions (New York, NY), 2001. *''The Shunra and the Schmetterling'', trans. from Hebrew by Peter Cole, New Directions (New York, NY), 2004. *''Curriculum Vitae'', trans. from Hebrew by Peter Cole, New Directions (New York, NY), 2009. *''Moods'', trans. from Hebrew by Peter Cole, New Directions (New York, NY), 2015.

Editor and translator

*''Japanese Death Poems: Written by Zen Monks and Haiku Poets on the Verge of Death'', Tuttle Publishing, 1986. *''The Sound of the One Hand: 281 Zen Koans with Answers'', Basic Books, 1975.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hoffmann, Yoel Jewish scholars University of Haifa faculty Romanian people of Hungarian-Jewish descent Romanian emigrants to Israel Hungarian emigrants to Israel Israeli Jews Austro-Hungarian Jews Romanian people of Austrian descent Jewish Hungarian writers 1937 births Living people Israeli Japanologists

Biography

Selected bibliography

Writings by the author

Editor and translator

Further reading

References