Yehuda Amichai: A Life of Poetry, 1948-1994 [Paperback]

Yehuda Amichai (Author), Benjamin Harshav (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1995

Yehuda Amichai: A Life of Poetry 1948-1994 offers a comprehensive and timely evaluation of the body of work of one of our most valuable poets in any language. Employing the style and idiom of a post-Modernism--of a twentieth-century artist--and filtering it through the prism of his Israeli and Jewish sensibilities, Amichai's words ifs cosmopolitan, muscular, and ironic. Resounding with the exhilarating of the human encounters--it is brought into the sharper contrast by the ever-present precariousness of Israeli existence. The burden and legacy of this history, and its impact upon modern, secular society, places Amichai's work within a uniquely Israeli landscape--arid, verdant, cruel, and beautiful--while simultaneously transcending national and religious borders. Translated from the Hebrew by Benjamin and Barbara Harshav, this volume brings Amichai to his rightful place beside the leading poets of the twentieth century.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

When Israeli poet Amichai (Poems of Jerusalem) began writing poems as a young man in 1948 in his newly forged country, "the twentieth century was the blood in my veins,/ Blood that wanted to go to many wars." Crafted of blood and war, his early poems also addressed his first beloved and his father's death, offering the exquisite pains of a man and a nation coming into being. These early themes reverberate, too, in Amichai's poems of later decades. Readers might suppose that he would weave Israeli politics like an enduring strand throughout his poems, but if so, they would underestimate the dynamic tension between the poet's initial admiration for Israel and his later disenchantment with any simple or facile viewpoint. Beautifully translated here, Amichai's poetic style is elegant, spacious and perfectly accessible. His metaphors range from liturgical to secular, as when the writer ironically considers war and love together: "I'm like a machine gun, somewhat old-fashioned/ But very precise: when I love,/ The recoil is very strong." This comprehensive record of a sensibility is an enormously satisfying introduction to an important 20th-century poet.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

In stark, beautiful language, Amichai shares with us a worldview sustained by verbal power, irony, and resonance. His ability to balance the arid with the fertile has made him Israel's most prominent poet, and another part of his gift is his capability for the eloquent analogical comment on larger issues, such as war, by means of striking minor images: "On a threshold of stone, whose house is destroyed, / A watermelon was slaughtered, cracked / And a light face rises / From the heavy tear slowly descending." He often takes on the burden of history, but the load rarely strains his work or makes him appear omnipotently beyond the reaches of human skirmishes. With full awareness, he descends into the maelstrom of conflict and brings back eroticism, contemplation, and exhilaration. Consisting of authoritative retranslations as well as work newly rendered into English, this comprehensive collection should delight longtime admirers and encourage a new generation to discover his mastery. One quibble: the book lacks an introduction illuminating Amichai's own experiences, which are only vaguely referred to in his work. Elizabeth Gunderson --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 496 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial (September 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 006092666X
• ISBN-13: 978-0060926663
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #850,111 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #45 in Books > Literature & Fiction > World Literature > Middle Eastern > Hebrew

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A poet of great human insight and beauty, April 11, 2005

By 

Shalom Freedman "Shalom Freedman" (Jerusalem,Israel) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Yehuda Amichai: A Life of Poetry 1948-1994 (Hardcover)

Amichai is I believe the most read of all modern Hebrew poets. His writing works on many different levels, and often has a simple surface story meaning which is eminently understandable. But beneath there are layers of complexity and irony, a deep awareness of Hebrew poetry, and traditional religious sources. Amichai's themes are the great themes of literature, themes of love and war, of comradeship and loss. His poetry too centers on his city, Jerusalem, and is a reading of its landscapes and mindscapes.
In this volume there are scholarly essays that enhance our understanding of this poet.
But Amichai who learned much from American modern poets use of the colloquial is excellently translated into English here.
Who meets this volume meets a poetry of exceptional meaning and beauty.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Hearts without rations, prophecies without water", February 11, 2004

By 

EriKa "E" (Iceland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Yehuda Amichai: A Life of Poetry, 1948-1994 (Paperback)

"Pain is a grandfather:/Sired two generations/of look-alike pains."

Not a single poem in this collection is superfluous. Each leads to the next and weaves a tapestry of images. Poetry in general, when it is really good, has the ability to touch you on a level you did not think possible. "If we don't remain together, we won't remain at all. Let alone life." It expresses thoughts and feelings in words you could not find. "Eternity is a perfect/Form of mutual loneliness." It introduces new angles to old ideas or contributes poignancy to unconsidered thoughts. Sometimes, the experience of the poet is foreign to the reader, but the reader can still feel on some level the feeling the poet felt. Amichai is among my favorite poets for his ability to create such a rich and sudden injection of reaction in me.

I find it unfortunate that I don't read Hebrew and have to read Amichai's poetry in the "lie of translation". I suspect a great deal is lost, but I still cannot fault what access I do have to these poems.

I cannot do much justice to Amichai with descriptive words. You will have to read it yourself. I know poetry is not necessarily everyone's favorite thing, but I think it is an acquired taste.

"And we didn't know then that remnants of happiness/ Are like remnants of every collapse/ That you have to clear away to start anew."

4.0 out of 5 stars Only obliquely a review; more a comment and search, November 4, 2011

By 

Elizabeth A Triano "lizziewriter" (In Transition, NY (watch this space)) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Yehuda Amichai: A Life of Poetry, 1948-1994 (Paperback)

I purchased this book after falling in love with another translation of "A Man in His Life" as printed in Christian Century magazine. I don't like the translation in this book as much, which leads me to consider the art of translation in general. I would like to find more of Amichai's work by the other translator.

This is otherwise a very fine collection of poetry that moves through time and ideas in a thoughtful and detailed manner worthy of a mature poet. More people should read it.

I'm not in a position to evaluate this translation versus others against the original. I'm also a (very amateur) fan of Nikos Kazantzakis, whom I also must enjoy in translation, and I have only the utmost gratitude and respect for translators of literature.

As for this book: it is a fine work and I heartily recommend it. If you have any "leads" regarding additional translations please share them in the comments. Thank you.