Aharon Appelfeld
Aharon Appelfeld | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | February 16, 1932 Jadova, Romania (now Ukraine) |
| Died | January 4, 2018 (aged 85) Petah Tikva, near Tel Aviv, Israel[1] |
| Occupation | Novelist |
| Language | Hebrew |
| Citizenship | Israeli |
| Alma mater | The Hebrew University of Jerusalem |
| Notable awards |
|
Aharon Appelfeld (
Biography
Ervin (Aharon) Appelfeld was born in
In
In 2007, Appelfeld's Badenheim 1939 was adapted for the stage and performed at the Gerard Behar Center in Jerusalem.[citation needed]
Choice of language
Appelfeld was one of Israel's foremost living
Appelfeld purchased his first Hebrew book at the age of 25: King of Flesh and Blood by
In an interview in the Boston Review, Appelfeld explained his choice of Hebrew: "I’m lucky that I’m writing in Hebrew. Hebrew is a very precise language, you have to be very precise–no over-saying. This is because of our Bible tradition. In the Bible tradition you have very small sentences, very concise and autonomic. Every sentence, in itself, has to have its own meaning."[8]
The Holocaust as a literary theme
Many Holocaust survivors have written an autobiographical account of their survival, but Appelfeld does not offer a realistic depiction of the events. He writes short stories that can be interpreted in a metaphoric way. Instead of his personal experience, he sometimes evokes the Holocaust without even relating to it directly. His style is clear and precise, but also very modernistic.[9]
Appelfeld resided in Israel but wrote little about life there. Most of his work focuses on Jewish life in Europe before, during and after World War II.[10] As an orphan from a young age, the search for a mother figure is central to his work. During the Holocaust he was separated from his father, and only met him again 20 years later.[citation needed]
Motifs
Silence, muteness and stuttering are motifs that run through much of Appelfeld's work.[5] Disability becomes a source of strength and power. Philip Roth described Appelfeld as "a displaced writer of displaced fiction, who has made of displacement and disorientation a subject uniquely his own."[11]
Awards and honors
- 1975 Brenner Prize for literature.[12]
- 1979 Avot Yeshurun).[13]
- 1983 Israel Prize for literature.[14]
- 1989 ISBN 0-87923-799-6),
- 1989 National Jewish Book Award for Fiction for The Immortal Bartfuss[15]
- 1997 Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.[16]
- 1998 National Jewish Book Award for Fiction for The Iron Tracks[15]
- 2004 ISBN 0-8052-4178-7)
- 2011 National Jewish Book Award for Fiction for Until the Dawn’s Light[15]
- 2012 Independent Foreign Fiction Prize for Blooms of Darkness: at the time, Appelfeld was the oldest ever recipient of the prize[17]
- 2016 Sydney Taylor Book Award for the children's book "Adam and Thomas"[18]
Cultural references
Appelfeld's work was greatly admired by his friend, fellow Jewish novelist Philip Roth, who made the Israeli writer a character in his own novel Operation Shylock.[19]
Published works
- Badenheim 1939 (1978, English translation: 1980)
- The Age of Wonders (1978, tr. 1981)
- Tzili (1982, tr. 1983)
- The Retreat (tr. 1984)
- To the Land of the Cattails (tr. 1986) (earlier published as To the Land of the Reeds)
- The Immortal Bartfuss (1988)[20]
- For Every Sin (tr. 1989)
- The Healer (tr. 1990)
- Katerina (1989, tr. 1992)
- Iron Tracks (1991, tr. 1998)
- Unto the Soul (tr. 1993)
- The Conversion (1991, tr. 1998)
- Laish (2001, tr. 2009)
- Beyond Despair: Three Lectures and a Conversation With Philip Roth (tr. 2003)
- The Story of a Life: A Memoir (2003)
- A Table For One: Under The Light Of Jerusalem (tr. 2005)
- All Whom I Have Loved (tr. 2007)
- Blooms of Darkness (2006, tr. 2010)
- Until the Dawn’s Light (1995, tr. 2011)
- Yalda Shelo Minhaolam Hazé = A girl from another world (fiction for children) (2013, not yet tr. in English), (published in French, Italian, 2014)
- Suddenly Love (tr. 2014)
- Long Summer Nights (2015)
- Adam and Thomas (fiction for children) (2015)
- The Man Who Never Stopped Sleeping (2017)
- To the Edge of Sorrow (2012, tr. 2020)[21]
See also
References
- ^ Aharon Appelfeld, Holocaust survivor who chronicled its traumas, dies at 85, The Washington Post
- OCLC 868556330. Retrieved 9 February 2014.
- S2CID 162313521– via JSTOR.
- ^ a b Elkann, Alain (Fall 2014). "Aharon Appelfeld, The Art of Fiction No. 224". The Paris Review. No. 210. Retrieved 24 February 2017.
- ^ a b Alon, Ktzia (May 9, 2008). "Circular confession". Haaretz.
- ^ Steinberg, Jessica (4 January 2018). "Aharon Appelfeld, literary giant who gave vivid voice to Holocaust, dies at 85". Israeli Literature. The Times of Israel. Retrieved 12 January 2019.
- ^ Haaretz, July 6, 2007, "Books," Home Libraries, interview with Vered Lee
- ^ Interview: Aharon Appelfeld
- ^ Lawler, Elizabeth (Winter 2005). "The Literary Vision of Aharon Appelfeld: An Interview With Gila Ramras-Rauch". Hebrew College Today. Archived from the original on 2007-09-16. Retrieved March 13, 2008.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-04-24.
- ^ The Marriage of Semite and Anti-Semite
- ^ Sorrel Kerbel (ed.): The Routledge Encyclopedia of Jewish Writers of the Twentieth Century, New Your 2003, p. 80.
- ^ "List of Bialik Prize recipients 1933–2004, Tel Aviv Municipality website" (PDF) (in Hebrew). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-12-17.
- ^ "Israel Prize Official Site – Recipients in 1983" (in Hebrew).
- ^ a b c "Past Winners for Fiction". Jewish Book Council. National Jewish Book Award.
- ^ "Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter A" (PDF). American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Archived (PDF) from the original on 10 May 2011. Retrieved April 19, 2011.
- ^ "Hebrew novel wins fiction prize". BBC News. 15 May 2012.
- ^ "Sydney Taylor Book Award - All Past Winners". Retrieved 24 January 2022.
- ^ Gourevitch, Philip (5 January 2018). "Aharon Appelfeld and the Truth of Fiction in Remembering the Holocaust". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2020-07-20.
- ^ Walking the way of the survivor, New York Times
- ^ Aharon Appelfeld’s ‘To the Edge of Sorrow’, Tablet Magazine
External links
- Vered Lee and Alex Levac. (July 11, 2007). "Aharon Appelfeld, Writer, Mevasseret Zion". Haaretz. Archived from the original on October 1, 2007. Retrieved July 30, 2007.
- "Aharon Appelfeld". Jewish Virtual Library. The Institute for the Translation of Hebrew Literature.
- Benjamin Balint (March 12, 2009). "'Israel's sorrow-caravan'". Haaretz. Archived from the original on June 12, 2009. Retrieved March 13, 2009.
- Interview with Appelfeld on his habit of writing at cafes Tablet (Magazine), nextbook.org
- "A Cafe Should Give Inspiration" Aharon Appelfeld on Ticho House, Jerusalem Haaretz.com Archived 2009-12-27 at the Wayback Machine
- Alain Elkann (Fall 2014). "Aharon Appelfeld, The Art of Fiction No. 224". Paris Review.
- Biography from the Berlin International Literature Festival Archived 2018-01-04 at the Wayback Machine
