Shmuel Yosef Agnon

July 17, 1888, Mr.. - 17 February 1970
Israeli writer Agnon (Shmuel Yosef Halevi Chachkes), author of novels and short stories, was born in the small town Buczacz in Galicia, the province of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which is now part of Poland. His father, Shalom Mordechai Halevy Chachkes, by profession a trader in furs, was educated rabbi. A. My mother, nee Esther Farben, was very well-read woman, was highly educated and his maternal grandfather, a merchant Yehuda Farben, which had a great influence on the young A.
. Education received in childhood, manifested in the themes and subjects of many works of A
. Junior A. attended heder (elementary school), and also studied Talmud under the guidance of his father and the local rabbi. In 'Beth hamidrash' ( 'House of Learning'), he read the works of ancient and medieval Jewish storytellers, the teachings of the Hasidim (followers of a mystical sect of Judaism that arose in the XVII century. in Poland) and modern Jewish literature. A teenager. became an active Zionist. His first poems published in a local newspaper, he wrote in Hebrew and Yiddish. At the age of 18 A. sent to Lviv to work in a Jewish newspaper, in 1907. taking a trip to Jaffa in Palestine, and a year later moved to Jerusalem. At that time he was secretary of the Jewish court, and served in various Jewish councils. In 1909, Mr.. A. published a short story 'deserted wives' ( 'Agunot'), which subsequently took the title for his literary pseudonym ( 'Agnon' translated from Hebrew means 'abandoned'),. Since 1924. 'Agnon' becomes the official name of the writer. Like all his subsequent works, 'deserted wives' were written in Hebrew. In this book there is a characteristic features of work of A.: the use of folklore and fantasy, religious motives. Creation AG, dating back to the Jewish rural culture, represents a sharp break with the cosmopolitanism of the secular Jewish writers such as Sholem Aleichem. Predecessors of a. were Shelomo Reuven Rubin and Broydes.
In 1912, Mr.. A. returned to Europe and settled in Berlin, where shtudiruet classics, giving lectures but Jewish literature, gives private lessons in Hebrew, acting as scientific consultant. However, a theologian and philosopher Martin Buber A. collects stories about Hasidism. In addition, A. and Buber founded the magazine 'Yude' ( 'Jude'). In that same time, A. acquainted with the German businessman of Jewish origin Zalmapom Schocken, who in 1915. gives him a five-year scholarship to study literary works under the condition that A. will edit an anthology of Jewish literature. Eventually Schocken able to establish his own publishing house in Berlin, which published mostly works of A. During 12 years of his stay in Berlin A. released in a small Jewish publishing several novels and collections of short stories.
To escape from military service during the First World War, A. for several weeks before the passage of the draft board in 1916. a lot of smoke, took pills and slept little, resulting in the army instead of into the hospital with a serious kidney disorder, in 1919. He married Esther Marx, who bore him a daughter and a son.
Because of the war and its aftermath A. returned to Jerusalem only in 1924, by which time Palestine became British mandated territory. In 1927, Mr.. He settled in the Jerusalem area, called Talpiot. During the Arab revolt in 1929. his house was ransacked, and he built himself a new one, in which he lived until his death.
In the late 20-ies. A. wrote his most significant work, a two-volume novel 'wedding canopy' ( 'Hachnasat Kalah'), which was published in 1931. In this picaresque novel describes the adventures of poor Hasid, who is traveling to Eastern Europe in search of husbands and dowries for his three daughters. Humor and irony in 'Wedding canopy' combined with compassion, which is typical for creativity A. general.
In 1930. A. returns to Europe, where at this time Schocken in Berlin, publishes its 'Collected Stories' ( 'Kol Sippurav', 1931). Before returning to Jerusalem in 1932. writer visited the Jewish community in Poland, which since her childhood has changed substantially. This experience is reflected in the novel 'Guest Night' ( 'Oreach Natah Lalun', 1937), where the hero returns to his native village and finds her physically and culturally devastated by a destructive and bloody war. In the novel 'The Straight Story' ( 'Sippur Pashut', 1935) A. uses the method developed pose Flaubert and Thomas Mann - the romantic aspirations of the hero are opposed to the interests of bourgeois society in one of the towns of Galicia at the beginning of XX century.
In the early 30-ies. A product. widely published in German, but the action of many books of this period is happening in Palestine. When in 1938. Nazis closed the publishing Shokena, entrepreneur moved to Tel Aviv, where he continued to publish works of a. At the end of World War II, Schocken has opened a branch of his publishing house in New York and began to publish a book. English, after which the writer has acquired world fame.
After reading the works of A., the influential American critic Edmund Wilson in the late 50-ies. officially nominated as a candidate in the writer's Nobel Prize in literature. However, only in 1966. A. won the Nobel Prize, which was awarded to him for 'deeply original art of narration, inspired by Jewish folk motifs'. With a. received the Nobel Prize Nelly Sachs. The address of the Nobel Committee were highlighted 'wedding canopy' and 'Guest Night'. A Nobel lecture. not read, but in his brief speech when giving the award, he stressed the influence of the Talmud and other Jewish religious books on his work.
In recent years, a life. Israel became a sort of national idol. When in Jerusalem's Talpiot construction work began, Mayor Teddy Kollek ordered to establish a special sign near the home of A.: 'Keep quiet! Agnon works', despite its huge popularity, itself a. was convinced that his readership is shrinking. In the gas chambers in World War II killed a significant number of those people for whom he wrote, and the writer thought that the younger generation so indifferent to the traditional cultural values that are reflected in his work. A. died of a heart attack in 1970. Jerusalem. Buried at the Mount of Olives.
In addition to the Nobel Prize, A. was awarded, and other awards, t.ch. prestigious award Bialikskoy Tel Aviv (1935 and 1951), Ussishkinskoy Prize (1950) and the Israel Prize (1950 and 1958). In addition, the writer has been awarded honorary degrees from Jewish Theological Seminary of America, the Jewish University in Jerusalem, Columbia University in the U.S.. In 1962. A. was elected an honorary citizen of Jerusalem.
Little-known general reader to receive the Nobel Prize, is currently a. considered one of the most prominent Jewish writers who have not been compared to James Joyce, Marcel Proust, William Faulkner, and above all, Franz Kafka, with whom his relatives suggestiveness and its very dark color. His work is difficult to think critically about largely because A. often processed already published works, and also because of the archaic, difficult to transfer syntax. However, despite this, even in a prose translation of. retains its special, distinctive force. Assessing achievement AA, American critic Robert Albert noted that 'in its multi-faceted literary heritage of a. touched on many of the most difficult aspects of the modern world. ... Do not lose the spiritual connection with the past ... he held the conviction that such a connection is needed and it can be achieved '.