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 (b ...

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 Traka ...

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 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. E.Watson; Walter ...

Language and Literature at the

Hebrew University The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public university, public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein ...

, 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 Lehi (; he, לח"י – לוחמי חרות ישראל ''Lohamei Herut Israel – Lehi'', "Fighters for the Freedom of Israel – Lehi"), often known pejoratively as the Stern Gang,"This group was known to its friends as LEHI and to its enemie ...

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 ...

and

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

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 er ...

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 work ...

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 sequ ...

Joseph Conrad Joseph Conrad (born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, ; 3 December 1857 – 3 August 1924) was a Polish-British novelist and short story writer. He is regarded as one of the greatest writers in the English language; though he did not spe ...

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 ...

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 wid ...

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 f ...

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 poe ...

and

O. Henry William Sydney Porter (September 11, 1862 – June 5, 1910), better known by his pen name O. Henry, was an American writer known primarily for his short stories, though he also wrote poetry and non-fiction. His works include "The Gift of the ...

. 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 during the Second World War, and again from ...

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 Governm ...

. 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

Memorial plaque to Aharon Amir in Tel Aviv

* ''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 Roza may refer to: People Last name *Fernando Luiz Roza (b. 1985), Brazilian soccer player *Lita Roza (1926–2008), British singer First name * Roza Anagnosti (born 1943) Albanian actress *Roza Baglanova (1922–2011), Soviet/Kazakh oper ...

* ''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 covere ...

* ''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

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