Avraham Shlonsky (1900 - 1973), Hebrew אברהם שלונסקי, was an Israeli poet born in Ukraine. He was important in the poetry of modern Hebrew, influencing literature in Israel in the fields of translation, editing, and drama. He made his reputation as an innovator in the Hebrew language. He earned the nickname "Lashonsky" from the wisecrackers of his generation because lashon means "language". 1900 is a common year starting on Monday. ... 1973 was a common year starting on Monday. ... Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afro-Asiatic language family spoken by 6 million people mainly in Israel, parts of the Palestinian territories, the United States and by Jewish communities around the world. ...

Life

When he was 13, he was sent to Israel to study at the prestigious Herzliya Hebrew High School in Tel Aviv. When the First World War broke out, he returned to Russia. Herzliya Hebrew High School (Hebrew הגימנסיה העברית הרצליה, ha-gimnasia ha-ivrit hertselia) was founded in 1905 in Jaffa and named Ha-Gimnasia Ha-Ivrit (The Hebrew High School). ... Tel-Aviv was founded on empty dunes north of the existing city of Jaffa. ...

Shlonsky published his first poem in 1919 in the newspaper Ha-Shiluah. In 1921 he relocated to the Land of Israel as a development worker, working in road paving and building construction. At the same time, he contributed to Jewish cultural life in the form of pop songs for the satirical stage productions of the time, and for the balls that were a tradition in early Tel Aviv for the Purim holiday. Even then, he showed a tendency to witty writing, incorporating linguistic inventions. In addition, he edited the literature columns in a few newspapers. 1919 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... 1921 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... The Land of Israel (Hebrew: ארץ ישראל Eretz Yisrael) is the land that made up the ancient Jewish Kingdoms of Israel and Judah. ... Purim (פּוּרִים Lots, Standard Hebrew Purim, Tiberian Hebrew Pûrîm: plural of פּוּר pûr Lot, from Akkadian pūru) is a Jewish holiday that commemorates the deliverance of the Persian Jews from the plot of the evil Haman to exterminate them, as recorded in the biblical Book of Esther. ...

Gradually he became the representative of the "rebel" group against the poetry of Bialik and his generation, particularly their characteristic clichés. His group tried to create a youthful, new and lively poetry, not handed down by the literary establishment. This fact was evident in that, for years, Shlonsky's poetry was not taught in school alongside the poems of Bialik, Shaul Tchernichovsky, David Shimoni, and others. Hayyim Nahman Bialik (January 9, 1873–July 4, 1934), also commonly written as Chaim or Haim Nachman Bialik and in the Hebrew language as חיים נחמן ביאליק, was a Jewish poet who wrote in Hebrew. ... Shaul Tchernichovsky (August 20, 1875 - October 14, 1943), Hebrew שאול טשרניחובסקי, was a poet of the Hebrew language. ...

In 1933 Shlonsky founded the literary weekly Turim, which was identified with the "Yachdav" society in which Natan Alterman and Leah Goldberg were also members. As an editor, Shlonsky gave poets just starting out an opportunity to publish their poems. Dalia Rabikovich merited one such opportunity when her first poem was published in the literary quarterly Orlogin that Shlonsky edited. 1933 was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Natan Alterman (1910, Warsaw - 1970) was Israeli poet, journalist, and translator. ... Leah Goldberg (1911-1970) was a Hebrew poet and student of literature who is considered one of Israels classic poets. ... Dalia Rabikovich (born 1936; died 21 August 2005) was an Israeli poet and peace activist, best known for the freedom of expression in her romantic poetry. ...

His sensitive activity on behalf of Boris Gaponov is especially remembered to his credit. Gaponov, as editor of the Communist Party daily in an auto plant in Soviet Georgia, translated the Georgian epic The Knight in the Panther's Skin by Shota Rustaveli into Hebrew. (Shneiderman 1970) Shlonsky orchestrated the publication of the translation in Israel, and was among those working to enable Gaponov to immigrate to Israel. Gaponov, who had learned Hebrew by listening to Israel Radio broadcasts, finally immigrated when he was very sick and his days were numbered. Israeli television viewers of the time remember the image of Shlonsky stroking Gaponov's head in a loving, fatherly manner, as the latter lay on his sickbed. The Knight in the Panthers Skin (Vepkhis Tkaosani in Georgian) is a well-known epic poem written in the 12th century (though the earliest surviving copy dates to the 16th century) by the Georgian poet Shota Rustaveli, who was a Prince, the Treasurer (Mechurchletukhutsesi) of Queen of Georgia Tamar. ... Shota Rustaveli (by Professor Sergo Kobuladze (1937)) Shota Rustaveli (შოთა რუსთაველი) was a Georgian poet of the 12th century, considered by many to be one of the greatest representatives of the literature of the medieval world. ...

Despite his reputation for comic wit, Shlonsky did not shrink from the tragic situation around him, but rather expressed it in his works. In the poem "Distress" he laments the fate of the victims of the First World War and of the Jews who suffered from pogroms in Ukraine during the Bolshevik revolution.

During the Holocaust, he published a collection of verse titled ממחשכים (from concealing shadows) in which he expressed his feelings from that darkest period in human history. He particularly lamented the fate of the Jews in a diseased Europe. Children survivors of the Holocaust before their liberation The Holocaust is the name applied to the systematic state-sponsored persecution and genocide of various ethnic, religious and political groups during World War II by Nazi Germany and collaborators. ...

In 1967 Shlonsky won the Israel Prize for literature. 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Israel Prize is the most prestigious award handed out by the State of Israel. ...

Avraham Shlonsky passed away in Tel Aviv in 1973. 1973 was a common year starting on Monday. ...

Works

His collection of verse Rough Stones exemplifies his works as a mature poet. Poems from the Long Corridor is a collection of reflections on the nature of life and death.

Shlonsky is also considered among the best Hebrew children's poets, for books such as Mickey Who? and Me and Tali in Lhama Country.

The play Utzli-Gutzli, about the dwarf Rumpelstiltskin of German legend, became a classic among Hebrew children's plays. In Shlonsky's translation for the stage, all of the monologues and dialogues are spoken in rhyme. They incorporate sophisticated wordplay using the Hebrew language at a high level. The following example from Utzli-Gutzli is presented with a transliteration, placing accents on stressed syllables. An unauthorized translation follows. Rumpelstiltskin is the title character of a fairy tale known as Rumpelstilzchen in German, and collected by the Grimm Brothers who first published it in the 1812 edition of Childrens and Household Tales. ...

Every city, province, town, learn the first rule: pay the crown!

Tax and tariff, fee and fare, not a pocket shall you spare!

In translation of foreign-language works, Shlonsky's uniqueness is evident. The Shlonskian style is prominent from the first lines onward. Shlonsky translated some of the best world classics: William Shakespeare, Anton Chekhov, Nikolai Gogol, Romain Rolland, and others. Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Anton Pavlovich Chekhov. ... Nikolai Gogol Nikolai Vasilevich Gogol (Russian: ) (March 31, 1809 - March 4, 1852) was a Ukrainian-born Russian writer. ... Romain Rolland (January 29, 1866 - December 30, 1944) was a French writer. ...

In his distinguished translation of Hamlet, which a score of Hebrew translators had already tackled, Shlonsky's distinctive language is again evident. He translated Shakespeare from Russian, as he was not a master of English. Yet translating at second hand did not mar the quality of his result. When Hamlet tells his mother Gertrude not to sleep with his uncle Claudius, who murdered his father, Shlonsky uses the consonance min`i dodayikh midodi: "withhold your love from my uncle", where the unusual word dodayikh (your love) evokes the Song of Solomon. The conventional translation is al ta`ali al yetzu`ei dodi (do not go upon my uncle's couch). The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark is a tragedy by William Shakespeare and one of his most well-known and oft-quoted plays. ... Song of Solomon is also the title of a novel by Toni Morrison. ...

Selected puns attributed

• When some firm-breasted young women passed by, he let slip, "Here's the latest, leading with the top story" (in literal translation, here's the news / new women, chief part foremost).
• On the Matate Theater: "the bit of tea (me`at ha-te) left over from the kettle" (kumkum, the name of the previous theater).
• To a lass who wanted to present him with a flower (perach): "I'll gladly accept your soft mouth (pe rakh)!" When she tried to explain that she meant with a chet (a letter of the Hebrew alphabet), he replied "I'll take the sin (chet') upon myself."

Selected coinages attributed

• by the way: flirt.
• someone who goes around with a transistor radio glued to one ear: radiot.
• cheating on a woman for the first time: keren hayesod. The phrase, literally "The Foundation Fund", is the Hebrew name of the United Israel Appeal. But the word keren (fund) can also mean "horn" as in cuckoldry—or as in the horned Moses of art history.
• cheating on a woman habitually: keren kayemet (the Jewish National Fund, where kayemet means "enduring").
• the Ararat café in early Tel Aviv, where penniless writers gathered: "It's an acronym for ani rotze rak te (I only want tea)."
• the eagerness of literary folk for prizes: prize-titution (prastitutzia).

A cuckold is a person, usually a man, with a sexually unfaithful partner, typically the mans wife. ... Moses or Móshe (מֹשֶׁה, Standard Hebrew Móše, Latin Moyses, Tiberian Hebrew Mōšeh, Arabic موسى Musa), son of Amram (Imran in Arabic) and his wife, Jochebed, a Levite. ... The Jewish National Fund is a private organisation, created in 1901 at the Fifth Zionist Congress in Basel with the aim of purchasing land in Palestine to serve as a Jewish homeland. ...

References

• אברהם שלונסקי (Avraham Shlonsky) in the Hebrew-language Wikipedia. Retrieved March 28, 2005.
• Shneiderman, S.L. "Yiddish in the U.S.S.R." New York Times Book Review, November 15, 1970. p. 71. Includes a report of Boris Gaponov's publication of his Hebrew version of "The Knight in the Panther's Skin", in Soviet Georgia.
• The Modern Hebrew Poem Itself, (2003) ISBN 0814324851

External links

• "Avraham Shlonsky", capsule biography and bibliography at Institute for Translation of Hebrew Literature