Dorothee Metlitzki

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Dorothee Metlitzki (or Devora Metlitsky; July 27, 1914 – April 14, 2001) was a Russian-born American author and professor of English at the

medieval English literature and history, Arabic literature and language and of the author Herman Melville
.

In addition she was a

State of Israel
.

Career

Metlitzki was born on July 27, 1914, in Russia.

Hebrew University in Jerusalem's department of English she moved to the US to attend Yale University, graduating with a PhD in 1954.[2]

She then took a position at the University of California, Berkeley's English department as lecturer and later, in 1964, as an associate professor, the department's second woman ever to be tenured. This was followed, in 1966, by teaching for 36 years at Yale University and also becoming the second woman ever to be tenured by that University's department of English as well.[2]

She published several academic books dealing with her interests including Celestial Origin of Elpheta and Algarsyf in Chaucer's "Squire's Tale," Melville's "Orienda" and The Matter of Araby in Medieval England.

Personal life

Dorothee Metlitzki was born in 1914 in the city of

King of Denmark.[4]
Her father was imprisoned during the
Russian Revolution and her mother moved the rest of the family to Lithuania, where her father rejoined them after his stay in prison.[2]

Having left Lithuania for London following outbreaks of

Moshe Sharet on the development of the State of Israel. She moved to Jerusalem after World War II and spent 15 years there founding the English department at Hebrew University.[5]

In 1943 she married the

State of Israel. Dorothee spent the next years traveling between Israel and Egypt - then enemy states, and tending to her husband, till his death in a Cairo
hospital in 1950.

In 1953, she moved to

Assyrologist Jacob Finkelstein, moving after him to Berkeley, California, but the two quickly parted, and she returned to Yale where she taught until her death.[5]

Political and social activity

In the late 1930s, Before the establishment of the state of

Zionist movement
, visiting various countries and speaking before Zionist women.

During the term of Golda Meir as Prime Minister of Israel, Metlitzki worked in the government there as a press officer for the Foreign Ministry and secretary for the affairs of Arab women in the Israeli Federation of Labor.[6] Using her knowledge of the Arabic language and culture, she served the Arab women, protecting their rights, with the vision of a bi-lingual bi-cultural state.

References

  1. ^ Ladine, Bret (2001-04-17). "Metlitzki, renowned literary scholar, dies at 86". Yale Daily News. Retrieved 2023-11-26.
  2. ^ a b c Lawler, Traugott. “Dorothee Metlitzki: Pioneering academic passionate about English and Arab cultures.” The Guardian, 30 April 2001. <http://education.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,480718,00.html>.
  3. ^ “Dorothee Metlitzki.” The Independent, 7 May 2001. <[1]>.
  4. ^ University of California: In Memoriam Dorothee Metlitzki
  5. ^ a b Obituary. “Dorothee Metlitzki dies; scholar played role in Israel's founding.” Archived 2015-02-25 at the Wayback Machine Yale Bulletin & Calendar, 27 April 2001.
  6. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved 2023-02-14.

Further reading
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