Shmuel Yosef Agnon
Encyclopedia
Shmuel Yosef Agnon (July 17, 1888 – February 17, 1970) was a Nobel Prize
laureate
writer and was one of the central figures of modern Hebrew
fiction
. In Hebrew, he is known by the acronym Shai Agnon (ש"י עגנון). In English, his works are published under the name S. Y. Agnon.
Agnon was born in Galicia, Austro-Hungarian Empire (today Ukraine
). He later immigrated to the British mandate of Palestine, and died in Jerusalem, Israel
.
His works deal with the conflict between the traditional Jewish life and language and the modern world
. They also attempt to recapture the fading traditions of the European shtetl
(village). In a wider context, he also contributed to broadening the characteristic conception of the narrator
's role in literature. Agnon shared the Nobel Prize with the poet Nelly Sachs
in 1966.
Agnon was born Shmuel Yosef Halevi Czaczkes in Buczacz (Polish spelling, pronounced Buchach) or Butschatsch (German spelling), Galicia (then within the Austro-Hungarian Empire), now Buchach
, Ukraine
. Officially, his date of birth on the Hebrew calendar
was 18 Av 5648 (July 26), but he always said his birthday was on the Jewish fast day
of Tisha B'Av
, the Ninth of Av.
His father, Shalom Mordechai Halevy, was ordained as a rabbi
, but worked in the fur trade
, and had many connections among the Hasidim
. His mother's side had ties to the Mitnagdim.
He did not attend school and was schooled by his parents. In addition to studying Jewish texts, Agnon studied writings of the Haskalah
, and was even tutored in German. At the age of eight, he began to write in Hebrew and Yiddish. At the age of 15, he published his first poem – a Yiddish poem about the Kabbalist
Joseph della Reina. He continued to write poems and stories in Hebrew and Yiddish, which were published in Galicia.
"Agnon," derived from the title of the story, which he adopted as his official surname
in 1924. In 1910, "Forsaken Wives" was translated into German. In 1912, at the urging of Yosef Haim Brenner
, he published a novella, "Vehaya Ha'akov Lemishor" ("And the Crooked Shall Be Made Straight").
In 1913, Agnon moved to Germany, where he met Esther Marx. They married in 1920 and had two children. In Germany he lived in Berlin and Bad Homburg vor der Höhe (1921–24). Salman Schocken
, a businessman and later also publisher, became his literary patron
and freed him from financial worries. From 1931 on, his work was published by Schocken Books
, and his short stories appeared regularly in the newspaper Haaretz
, also owned by the Schocken family. In Germany, he continued to write short stories and collaborated with Martin Buber
on an anthology of Hasidic
stories. Many of his early books appeared in Buber's Jüdischer Verlag (Berlin). The mostly assimilated, secular German Jews, Buber and Franz Rosenzweig
among them, considered Agnon to be a legitimate relic, being a religious man, familiar with Jewish scripture. Gershom Sholem called him "the Jews' Jew".
In 1924, a fire broke out in his home, destroying his manuscripts and rare book collection. This traumatic event crops up occasionally in his stories. Later that year, Agnon returned to Jerusalem and settled with his family in the neighborhood of Talpiot
. In 1929, his library was destroyed again during anti-Jewish riots
.
When his novel Hachnasat Kalla ("The Bridal Canopy") appeared in 1931 to great critical acclaim, Agnon's place in Hebrew literature was assured. In 1935, he published "Sippur Pashut" ("A Simple Story"), a novella
set in Buczacz at the end of the 19th century. Another novel, "Tmol Shilshom" ("Yesteryear"), set in Eretz Yisrael of the early 20th century, appeared in 1945.
, Dov Sadan
, Nitza Ben-Dov
, Dan Miron
, and Dan Laor. Agnon writes about Jewish life, but with his own unique perspective and special touch. In his Nobel acceptance speech, Agnon claimed "Some see in my books the influences of authors whose names, in my ignorance, I have not even heard, while others see the influences of poets whose names I have heard but whose writings I have not read." He went on to detail that his primary influences were the stories of the Bible
. Agnon acknowledged that he was also influenced by German literature and culture, and European literature in general, which he read in German translation. A collection of essays on this subject, edited in part by Hillel Weiss
, with contributions from Israeli and German scholars, was published in 2010: Agnon and Germany: The Presence of the German World in the Writings of S.Y. Agnon. The budding Hebrew
literature also influenced his works, notably that of his friend, Yosef Haim Brenner
. In Germany, Agnon also spent time with the Hebraists Hayim Nahman Bialik and Ahad Ha'am.
The communities he passed through in his life are reflected in his works:
Nitza Ben-Dov writes about Agnon's use of allusiveness, free-association and imaginative dream-sequences, and discusses how seemingly inconsequential events and thoughts determine the lives of his characters.
Some of Agnon's works, such as The Bridal Canopy, And the Crooked Shall Be Made Straight, and The Doctor and His Ex-Wife, have been adapted for theatre
. A play based on Agnon's letters to his wife, "Esterlein Yakirati", was performed at the Khan Theater in Jerusalem.
and the Prophets
, Midrash
ic literature, the Mishnah
, and other Rabbinic literature
. Some examples include:
Bar-Ilan University
has made a computerized concordance
of his works in order to study his language.
In later years, Agnon's fame was such that when he complained to the municipality that traffic noise near his home was disturbing his work, the city closed the street to cars and posted a sign that read: "No entry to all vehicles, writer at work!"
In 2005, he was voted the 19th-greatest Israeli of all time, in a poll by the Israeli news website Ynet
to determine whom the general public considered the 200 Greatest Israelis.
Agnon died in Jerusalem on February 17, 1970. His daughter, Emuna Yaron, has continued to publish his work posthumously. Agnon's archive was transferred by the family to the National Library in Jerusalem
. His home in Talpiot
, built in 1931 in the Bauhaus
style, was turned into a museum, Beit Agnon. The study where he wrote many of his works was preserved intact. Agnon's image has appeared on the 50 shekel
bill since 1985, along with an excerpt from his speech upon accepting the Nobel Prize
. The main street in Jerusalem's Givat Oranim
neighborhood is called Sderot Shai Agnon, and a synagogue in Talpiot, a few blocks from his home, is named for him.
A Jewish school in Beachwood, Ohio, is called the Agnon School, or Beit Sefer Agnon, and it is named for Agnon.
initiated the opening of his home to the public. In the early 1980s, the kitchen and family dining room were turned into a lecture and conference hall, and literary and cultural evenings were held there. In 2005, the Agnon House Association in Jerusalem renovated the building, which reopened in January 2009. The house was designed by the German-Jewish architect Fritz Korenberg, who was also his neighbor.
In 1977 the Hebrew University published Yiddish Works, a collection of stories and poems that Agnon wrote in Yiddish during 1903–1906.
Nobel Prize in Literature
Since 1901, the Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded annually to an author from any country who has, in the words from the will of Alfred Nobel, produced "in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction"...
laureate
Laureate
In English, the word laureate has come to signify eminence or association with literary or military glory. It is also used for winners of the Nobel Prize.-History:...
writer and was one of the central figures of modern Hebrew
Modern Hebrew
Modern Hebrew , also known as Israeli Hebrew or Modern Israeli Hebrew, is the language spoken in Israel and in some Jewish communities worldwide, from the early 20th century to the present....
fiction
Fiction
Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...
. In Hebrew, he is known by the acronym Shai Agnon (ש"י עגנון). In English, his works are published under the name S. Y. Agnon.
Agnon was born in Galicia, Austro-Hungarian Empire (today Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
). He later immigrated to the British mandate of Palestine, and died in Jerusalem, Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
.
His works deal with the conflict between the traditional Jewish life and language and the modern world
Modern World
Modern World or The Modern World may refer to:*Modernity, a popular academic term.*The modern era, the age in which people today now live.*Modern World, a song by Wolf Parade from their 2005 album Apologies to the Queen Mary....
. They also attempt to recapture the fading traditions of the European shtetl
Shtetl
A shtetl was typically a small town with a large Jewish population in Central and Eastern Europe until The Holocaust. Shtetls were mainly found in the areas which constituted the 19th century Pale of Settlement in the Russian Empire, the Congress Kingdom of Poland, Galicia and Romania...
(village). In a wider context, he also contributed to broadening the characteristic conception of the narrator
Narrator
A narrator is, within any story , the fictional or non-fictional, personal or impersonal entity who tells the story to the audience. When the narrator is also a character within the story, he or she is sometimes known as the viewpoint character. The narrator is one of three entities responsible for...
's role in literature. Agnon shared the Nobel Prize with the poet Nelly Sachs
Nelly Sachs
Nelly Sachs was a Jewish German poet and playwright whose experiences resulting from the rise of the Nazis in World War II Europe transformed her into a poignant spokeswoman for the grief and yearnings of her fellow Jews...
in 1966.
Biography
Buchach
Buchach is a small city located on the Strypa River in the Ternopil Oblast of western Ukraine...
, Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
. Officially, his date of birth on the Hebrew calendar
Hebrew calendar
The Hebrew calendar , or Jewish calendar, is a lunisolar calendar used today predominantly for Jewish religious observances. It determines the dates for Jewish holidays and the appropriate public reading of Torah portions, yahrzeits , and daily Psalm reading, among many ceremonial uses...
was 18 Av 5648 (July 26), but he always said his birthday was on the Jewish fast day
Fast Day
Fast Day was a holiday observed in some parts of the United States between 1670 and 1991."A day of public fasting and prayer", it was traditionally observed in the New England states. It had its origin in days of prayer and repentance proclaimed in the early days of the American colonies by Royal...
of Tisha B'Av
Tisha B'Av
|Av]],") is an annual fast day in Judaism, named for the ninth day of the month of Av in the Hebrew calendar. The fast commemorates the destruction of both the First Temple and Second Temple in Jerusalem, which occurred about 655 years apart, but on the same Hebrew calendar date...
, the Ninth of Av.
His father, Shalom Mordechai Halevy, was ordained as a rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
, but worked in the fur trade
Fur trade
The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of world market for in the early modern period furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the most valued...
, and had many connections among the Hasidim
Hasidic Judaism
Hasidic Judaism or Hasidism, from the Hebrew —Ḥasidut in Sephardi, Chasidus in Ashkenazi, meaning "piety" , is a branch of Orthodox Judaism that promotes spirituality and joy through the popularisation and internalisation of Jewish mysticism as the fundamental aspects of the Jewish faith...
. His mother's side had ties to the Mitnagdim.
He did not attend school and was schooled by his parents. In addition to studying Jewish texts, Agnon studied writings of the Haskalah
Haskalah
Haskalah , the Jewish Enlightenment, was a movement among European Jews in the 18th–19th centuries that advocated adopting enlightenment values, pressing for better integration into European society, and increasing education in secular studies, Hebrew language, and Jewish history...
, and was even tutored in German. At the age of eight, he began to write in Hebrew and Yiddish. At the age of 15, he published his first poem – a Yiddish poem about the Kabbalist
Kabbalah
Kabbalah/Kabala is a discipline and school of thought concerned with the esoteric aspect of Rabbinic Judaism. It was systematized in 11th-13th century Hachmei Provence and Spain, and again after the Expulsion from Spain, in 16th century Ottoman Palestine...
Joseph della Reina. He continued to write poems and stories in Hebrew and Yiddish, which were published in Galicia.
Literary career
In 1908, he immigrated to Jaffa. The first story he published there was "Agunot" ("Forsaken Wives"), which appeared that same year in the journal Ha`omer. He used the pen namePen name
A pen name, nom de plume, or literary double, is a pseudonym adopted by an author. A pen name may be used to make the author's name more distinctive, to disguise his or her gender, to distance an author from some or all of his or her works, to protect the author from retribution for his or her...
"Agnon," derived from the title of the story, which he adopted as his official surname
Surname
A surname is a name added to a given name and is part of a personal name. In many cases, a surname is a family name. Many dictionaries define "surname" as a synonym of "family name"...
in 1924. In 1910, "Forsaken Wives" was translated into German. In 1912, at the urging of Yosef Haim Brenner
Yosef Haim Brenner
Yosef Haim Brenner was a Russian-born Hebrew-language author, one of the pioneers of modern Hebrew literature.-Biography:Brenner was born to a poor Jewish family in Novi Mlini, Russian Empire...
, he published a novella, "Vehaya Ha'akov Lemishor" ("And the Crooked Shall Be Made Straight").
In 1913, Agnon moved to Germany, where he met Esther Marx. They married in 1920 and had two children. In Germany he lived in Berlin and Bad Homburg vor der Höhe (1921–24). Salman Schocken
Salman Schocken
Salman Schocken was a German Jewish publisher and businessman.Salman Schocken was the son of Jewish shopkeeper in Posen....
, a businessman and later also publisher, became his literary patron
Patrón
Patrón is a luxury brand of tequila produced in Mexico and sold in hand-blown, individually numbered bottles.Made entirely from Blue Agave "piñas" , Patrón comes in five varieties: Silver, Añejo, Reposado, Gran Patrón Platinum and Gran Patrón Burdeos. Patrón also sells a tequila-coffee blend known...
and freed him from financial worries. From 1931 on, his work was published by Schocken Books
Schocken Books
Schocken Books is a publishing company that was established in Berlin with a publishing office in Prague in 1931 by the Schocken Department Store owner Salman Schocken. It published the writings of Martin Buber, Franz Rosenzweig, Franz Kafka and S. Y...
, and his short stories appeared regularly in the newspaper Haaretz
Haaretz
Haaretz is Israel's oldest daily newspaper. It was founded in 1918 and is now published in both Hebrew and English in Berliner format. The English edition is published and sold together with the International Herald Tribune. Both Hebrew and English editions can be read on the Internet...
, also owned by the Schocken family. In Germany, he continued to write short stories and collaborated with Martin Buber
Martin Buber
Martin Buber was an Austrian-born Jewish philosopher best known for his philosophy of dialogue, a form of religious existentialism centered on the distinction between the I-Thou relationship and the I-It relationship....
on an anthology of Hasidic
Hasidic Judaism
Hasidic Judaism or Hasidism, from the Hebrew —Ḥasidut in Sephardi, Chasidus in Ashkenazi, meaning "piety" , is a branch of Orthodox Judaism that promotes spirituality and joy through the popularisation and internalisation of Jewish mysticism as the fundamental aspects of the Jewish faith...
stories. Many of his early books appeared in Buber's Jüdischer Verlag (Berlin). The mostly assimilated, secular German Jews, Buber and Franz Rosenzweig
Franz Rosenzweig
Franz Rosenzweig was an influential Jewish theologian and philosopher.-Early life:Franz Rosenzweig was born in Kassel, Germany to a middle-class, minimally observant Jewish family...
among them, considered Agnon to be a legitimate relic, being a religious man, familiar with Jewish scripture. Gershom Sholem called him "the Jews' Jew".
In 1924, a fire broke out in his home, destroying his manuscripts and rare book collection. This traumatic event crops up occasionally in his stories. Later that year, Agnon returned to Jerusalem and settled with his family in the neighborhood of Talpiot
Talpiot
Talpiot , is a neighborhood in southeast Jerusalem, Israel, established in 1922 by Zionist pioneers.-Etymology:The name Talpiot derives from a verse in Song of Songs 4:4 – "Thy neck is like the tower of David, built with turrets." According to rabbinic sources, Talpiot refers to the Temple...
. In 1929, his library was destroyed again during anti-Jewish riots
1929 Palestine riots
The 1929 Palestine riots, also known as the Western Wall Uprising, the 1929 Massacres, , or the Buraq Uprising , refers to a series of demonstrations and riots in late August 1929 when a long-running dispute between Muslims and Jews over access to the Western Wall in Jerusalem escalated into violence...
.
When his novel Hachnasat Kalla ("The Bridal Canopy") appeared in 1931 to great critical acclaim, Agnon's place in Hebrew literature was assured. In 1935, he published "Sippur Pashut" ("A Simple Story"), a novella
Novella
A novella is a written, fictional, prose narrative usually longer than a novelette but shorter than a novel. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Nebula Awards for science fiction define the novella as having a word count between 17,500 and 40,000...
set in Buczacz at the end of the 19th century. Another novel, "Tmol Shilshom" ("Yesteryear"), set in Eretz Yisrael of the early 20th century, appeared in 1945.
Literary themes and influences
Agnon's writing has been the subject of extensive academic research. Many leading scholars of Hebrew literature have published books and papers on his work, among them Baruch KurzweilBaruch Kurzweil
Baruch Kurzweil was a pioneer of Israeli literary criticism.-Biography:Kurzweil was born in Pirnice, Moravia in 1907, to an Orthodox Jewish family. He studied at Solomon Breuer's yeshiva in Frankfurt and the University of Frankfurt. Kurzweil emigrated to Mandate Palestine in 1939...
, Dov Sadan
Dov Sadan
Professor Dov Sadan was an Israeli academic and politician who served as a member of the Knesset for the Alignment between 1965 and 1968.-Biography:...
, Nitza Ben-Dov
Nitza Ben-Dov
Nitza Ben-Dov is Professor of Hebrew and Comparative Literature at the University of Haifa.- Biography :Nitza Ben-Dov was born in Tel Aviv to parents who were Holocaust survivors. Her father, Dov Fruchtman, was a teacher of literature and wrote a series of research studies on the oeuvre of S.Y....
, Dan Miron
Dan Miron
Dan Miron is an Israeli literary critic and author. Miron is a Professor emeritus at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is currently the Leonard Kaye Professor of Hebrew and Comparative Literature in the Department of Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures at Columbia University.-Awards...
, and Dan Laor. Agnon writes about Jewish life, but with his own unique perspective and special touch. In his Nobel acceptance speech, Agnon claimed "Some see in my books the influences of authors whose names, in my ignorance, I have not even heard, while others see the influences of poets whose names I have heard but whose writings I have not read." He went on to detail that his primary influences were the stories of the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
. Agnon acknowledged that he was also influenced by German literature and culture, and European literature in general, which he read in German translation. A collection of essays on this subject, edited in part by Hillel Weiss
Hillel Weiss
Hillel Weiss is a professor of literature at Bar Ilan University in Israel.-Academic career:Hillel Weiss is a tenured professor at the Joseph & Norman Berman Department of Literature of the Jewish People, Faculty of Jewish Studies, Bar-llan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel...
, with contributions from Israeli and German scholars, was published in 2010: Agnon and Germany: The Presence of the German World in the Writings of S.Y. Agnon. The budding Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
literature also influenced his works, notably that of his friend, Yosef Haim Brenner
Yosef Haim Brenner
Yosef Haim Brenner was a Russian-born Hebrew-language author, one of the pioneers of modern Hebrew literature.-Biography:Brenner was born to a poor Jewish family in Novi Mlini, Russian Empire...
. In Germany, Agnon also spent time with the Hebraists Hayim Nahman Bialik and Ahad Ha'am.
The communities he passed through in his life are reflected in his works:
- Galicia: in the books The Bridal CanopyThe Bridal CanopyThe Bridal Canopy , a novel by Shmuel Yosef Agnon, is considered to be one of the first classics of modern Hebrew literature. At the time of its publication in 1931, Hebrew had only recently been revived as a spoken language. Although Jewish commentators and writers continued to write in Hebrew, it...
, A City and the Fullness Thereof and A Guest for the Night. - Germany: in the stories "Fernheim", "Thus Far" and "Between Two Cities".
- Jaffa: in the stories "Oath of Allegiance", "Tmol Shilshom" and "The Dune".
- Jerusalem: "Tehilla", "Tmol Shilshom", "Ido ve-Inam" and "Shira".
Nitza Ben-Dov writes about Agnon's use of allusiveness, free-association and imaginative dream-sequences, and discusses how seemingly inconsequential events and thoughts determine the lives of his characters.
Some of Agnon's works, such as The Bridal Canopy, And the Crooked Shall Be Made Straight, and The Doctor and His Ex-Wife, have been adapted for theatre
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
. A play based on Agnon's letters to his wife, "Esterlein Yakirati", was performed at the Khan Theater in Jerusalem.
Language
Agnon's writing often used words and phrases that differed from what would become established modern Hebrew. His distinct language is based on traditional Jewish sources, such as the books of MosesTorah
Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five books of the bible—Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five...
and the Prophets
Nevi'im
Nevi'im is the second of the three major sections in the Hebrew Bible, the Tanakh. It falls between the Torah and Ketuvim .Nevi'im is traditionally divided into two parts:...
, Midrash
Midrash
The Hebrew term Midrash is a homiletic method of biblical exegesis. The term also refers to the whole compilation of homiletic teachings on the Bible....
ic literature, the Mishnah
Mishnah
The Mishnah or Mishna is the first major written redaction of the Jewish oral traditions called the "Oral Torah". It is also the first major work of Rabbinic Judaism. It was redacted c...
, and other Rabbinic literature
Rabbinic literature
Rabbinic literature, in its broadest sense, can mean the entire spectrum of rabbinic writings throughout Jewish history. However, the term often refers specifically to literature from the Talmudic era, as opposed to medieval and modern rabbinic writing, and thus corresponds with the Hebrew term...
. Some examples include:
- bet kahava for modern bet kafe (coffee house / café)
- batei yadayim (lit. "hand-houses") for modern kfafot (gloves)
- yatzta (יצתה) rather than the modern conjugation yatz'a (יצאה) ("she went out")
- rotev (רוטב) meaning soup in place of modern marak (מרק)
Bar-Ilan University
Bar-Ilan University
Bar-Ilan University is a university in Ramat Gan of the Tel Aviv District, Israel.Established in 1955, Bar Ilan is now Israel's second-largest academic institution. It has nearly 26,800 students and 1,350 faculty members...
has made a computerized concordance
Concordance
Concordance can mean:* Concordance , a list of words used in a body of work, with their immediate contexts* Concordance , the presence of the same trait in both members of a pair of twins...
of his works in order to study his language.
Awards and critical acclaim
- Agnon was twice awarded the Bialik PrizeBialik PrizeThe 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 Hayyim Nahman Bialik. There are two separate prizes, one specifically for "Literature", which is in the field of fiction,...
for literature (1934 and 1950); - He was also twice awarded the Israel PrizeIsrael PrizeThe Israel Prize is an award handed out by the State of Israel and is largely regarded as the state's highest honor. It is presented annually, on Israeli Independence Day, in a state ceremony in Jerusalem, in the presence of the President, the Prime Minister, the Knesset chairperson, and the...
, for literature (1954 and 1958); - In 1966, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in LiteratureNobel Prize in LiteratureSince 1901, the Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded annually to an author from any country who has, in the words from the will of Alfred Nobel, produced "in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction"...
"for his profoundly characteristic narrative art with motifs from the life of the Jewish people". The prize was shared with German Jewish author Nelly SachsNelly SachsNelly Sachs was a Jewish German poet and playwright whose experiences resulting from the rise of the Nazis in World War II Europe transformed her into a poignant spokeswoman for the grief and yearnings of her fellow Jews...
. In his speech at the award ceremonyAward ceremonyAn awards ceremony is an event and television programming genre where an award, of any type, is given to a person or people. Ceremonies are usually held at night, with guests wearing formal gowns and suits. They also usually have a host, with many categories for the awards. In the event that there...
, Agnon introduced himself in Hebrew: "As a result of the historic catastrophe in which TitusTitusTitus , was Roman Emperor from 79 to 81. A member of the Flavian dynasty, Titus succeeded his father Vespasian upon his death, thus becoming the first Roman Emperor to come to the throne after his own father....
of Rome destroyed Jerusalem and Israel was exiled from its land, I was born in one of the cities of the Exile. But always I regarded myself as one who was born in Jerusalem."
In later years, Agnon's fame was such that when he complained to the municipality that traffic noise near his home was disturbing his work, the city closed the street to cars and posted a sign that read: "No entry to all vehicles, writer at work!"
In 2005, he was voted the 19th-greatest Israeli of all time, in a poll by the Israeli news website Ynet
Ynet
Ynet is the most popular Israeli news and general content website. It is owned by the same conglomerate that operates Yediot Ahronot, the country's secondleading daily newspaper...
to determine whom the general public considered the 200 Greatest Israelis.
Death and commemoration
Jewish National and University Library
The National Library of Israel , is the national library of Israel...
. His home in Talpiot
Talpiot
Talpiot , is a neighborhood in southeast Jerusalem, Israel, established in 1922 by Zionist pioneers.-Etymology:The name Talpiot derives from a verse in Song of Songs 4:4 – "Thy neck is like the tower of David, built with turrets." According to rabbinic sources, Talpiot refers to the Temple...
, built in 1931 in the Bauhaus
Bauhaus
', commonly known simply as Bauhaus, was a school in Germany that combined crafts and the fine arts, and was famous for the approach to design that it publicized and taught. It operated from 1919 to 1933. At that time the German term stood for "School of Building".The Bauhaus school was founded by...
style, was turned into a museum, Beit Agnon. The study where he wrote many of his works was preserved intact. Agnon's image has appeared on the 50 shekel
Israeli new sheqel
The Israeli New Shekel is the currency of the State of Israel. The shekel is divided into 100 agorot...
bill since 1985, along with an excerpt from his speech upon accepting the Nobel Prize
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
. The main street in Jerusalem's Givat Oranim
Givat Oranim
Givat Oranim is a neighborhood in southwestern Jerusalem, Israel, bordered by Katamon, Rassco, San Simon and Kiryat Shmuel.Givat Oranim was established after 1948. The area played an important part in the battle for the San Simon monastery during Israel's War of Independence. It is populated by a...
neighborhood is called Sderot Shai Agnon, and a synagogue in Talpiot, a few blocks from his home, is named for him.
A Jewish school in Beachwood, Ohio, is called the Agnon School, or Beit Sefer Agnon, and it is named for Agnon.
Beit Agnon
After Agnon's death, the former mayor of Jerusalem Mordechai Ish-ShalomMordechai Ish-Shalom
Mordechai Ish-Shalom , , was an Israeli politician and labor leader. He was mayor of Jerusalem from 1959 to 1965.-Biography:Ish-Shalom was born in Lithuania and came to British Palestine in 1923. His labor career began in the Stonecutters' Union in 1935; he then rose through the ranks of the...
initiated the opening of his home to the public. In the early 1980s, the kitchen and family dining room were turned into a lecture and conference hall, and literary and cultural evenings were held there. In 2005, the Agnon House Association in Jerusalem renovated the building, which reopened in January 2009. The house was designed by the German-Jewish architect Fritz Korenberg, who was also his neighbor.
Short stories and novels
- The Bridal Canopy (1931), an epic describing Galician Judaism at the start of the 19th century.
- Of Such and Of Such, a collection of stories, including "And the Crooked Shall Be Made Straight", "Forsaken Wives", and "Belevav Yamim" ("In the Heart of the Seas").
- At the Handles of the Lock (1923), a collection of love stories, including "Bidmay Yameha" ("In the Prime of Her Life"), "A Simple Story", and "The Dune".
- Ore'ah Noteh Lalun ("A Guest for the Night") (1938), a novel about the decline of eastern European Jewry. The narrator visits his old hometown and discovers that great changes have occurred since World War I.
- Only Yesterday (1945), a novel set in the Second Aliyah period.
- Near and Apparent, a collection of stories, including "The Two Sages Who Were In Our City", "Between Two Cities", "The Lady and the Peddler", the collection "The Book of Deeds", the satire "Chapters of the National Manual", and "Introduction to the Kaddish: After the Funerals of Those Murdered in the Land of Israel".
- Thus Far, a collection of stories, including "Thus Far", "Prayer", "Oath of Allegiance", "The Garment", "Fernheim", and "Ido ve-Inam".
- The Fire and the Wood, a collection of stories including Hasidic tales, a semi-fictional account of Agnon's family history and other stories.
Anthologies
- Days of Awe (1938), a book of customs, interpretations, and legends for the Jewish days of mercy and forgiveness: Rosh HashanahRosh HashanahRosh Hashanah , , is the Jewish New Year. It is the first of the High Holy Days or Yamim Nora'im which occur in the autumn...
, Yom KippurYom KippurYom Kippur , also known as Day of Atonement, is the holiest and most solemn day of the year for the Jews. Its central themes are atonement and repentance. Jews traditionally observe this holy day with a 25-hour period of fasting and intensive prayer, often spending most of the day in synagogue...
, and the days between. - Present at Sinai: The Giving of the Law (1959), an anthology for the festival of ShavuotShavuotThe festival of is a Jewish holiday that occurs on the sixth day of the Hebrew month of Sivan ....
.
Posthumous publications
- Shira (1971), a novel set in Jerusalem in the 1930s and 1940s.
- Ir Umeloah ("A City and the Fullness Thereof") (1973), a collection of stories and legends about Buczacz, Agnon's hometown.
- In Mr. Lublin's Shop (1974), set in Germany of the First World War.
- Within the Wall (1975), a collection of four stories.
- From Myself to Myself (1976), a collection of essays and speeches.
- Introductions (1977), stories.
- Book, Writer and Story (1978), stories about writers and books from the Jewish sources.
- The Beams of Our House (1979), two stories, the first about a Jewish family in Galicia, the second about the history of Agnon's family.
- Esterlein Yakirati ("Dear Esther: Letters 1924–1931" (1983), letters from Agnon to his wife.
- A Shroud of Stories (1985).
- The Correspondence between S.Y. Agnon and S. Schocken (1991), letters between Agnon and his publisher.
- A Book That Was Lost: Thirty Five Stories (2008)
In 1977 the Hebrew University published Yiddish Works, a collection of stories and poems that Agnon wrote in Yiddish during 1903–1906.
See also
- List of Israel Prize recipients
- List of Bialik Prize recipientsBialik PrizeThe 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 Hayyim Nahman Bialik. There are two separate prizes, one specifically for "Literature", which is in the field of fiction,...
- List of Jewish Nobel laureates
- List of Polish Jews
- List of Galician Jews
External links
- Biography of Shmuel Yosef Agnon (Jewish Agency for Israel)
- Archive of Midrash Agnon course on 5 short stories from Agnon House and WebYeshiva.org.
- Archive of course on Agnon's novella "Tehilla" broadcast from Agnon House and WebYeshiva.org.
- Shiri Lev Ari: S.Y. Agnon's relatives: The East Jerusalem Nashashibis (Ha'aretz, July 10, 2006)
- Dan Laor: Agnon's biographer describes his long journey home
- Photo
- Biography
- Jewish Renaissance Pioneers: Shmuel Yosef Agnon
- Agnon's Nobel Prize Speech