Amichai, Yehuda

Yehuda Amichai: A Life of Poetry 1948-1994 with: Ephemera

ISBN: 0060190396
New York, NY, USA: HarperCollins, 1994. First Edition. Hardcover. "Yehuda Amichai is widely considered to be the most prominent poet of Israel, and certainly the best known Hebrew poet internationally. A Life of Poetry 1948-1994 is an appropriately 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-Modernist- of a twentieth-century artist- and filtering it through the prism of his Israeli and Jewish sensibilities, Amichai's work is cosmopolitan, muscular, and ironic. Resounding with the exhiliration of the human drama- love, loss, death, war, eroticism, and the density of experience in human encounters- it is brought into 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. His language resonates with biblical and sacramental allusion, but his thematic power lies in the depiction of an essential human sensibility." (from front flap) A near-life & career-spanning collection of poems by Yehuda Amichai (1924-2000), the highly acclaimed, award-winning Israeli poet. Translated from the Hebrew into English by the great Jewish-Lithuanian-Israeli-American literary theorist, translator & editor Benjamin Harshav (1928-2015) & his wife, Barbara Harshav. Hardcover in unclipped first-issue dust jacket (with $30 price & "1094P" printed at front flap), first edition as stated on copyright page, first printing as indicated by number sequence thereon. We found & have retained, between front paste-down & endpaper, two items of ephemera: Publisher's press release for this volume, two stapled sheets printed on three sides, with laudatory & informative copy & the announcement of a publication date of October 10, 1994- in excellent condition, folded twice horizontally. Also, a complete article on the life & work of Amichai by James Wood (b. 1965), the respected British literary critic, from the January 4, 2016 issue of The New Yorker magazine, three pages (pgs. 73-77) neatly excised & folded once horizontally, in all-but-very-fine condition. From the collection of Laurence Goldstein (1943-2023), a renowned American poet, film critic, editor & academician here at the University of Michigan. It is likely that Goldstein received this as effectively a review copy from the publisher, as evidenced by the press release noted above. An essential, definitive English-language Amichai collectible in its rarest contemporary form, greatly enhanced by rich ephemera & with very distinguished provenance. See also our item No. 7952. Book in very fine condition with only a touch of wear, fading & a few tiny bumps, creases at edges & corners of front, back covers & spine; small areas of very slight rubbing to edges of text block. Interior very fine, appearing substantially mint. dust jacket relatively very fine with mild rubbing, faint scratching & a bit of age-toning to front, back covers, spine & flaps; a hint of wear & a few tiny bumps, creases at edges & corners of same. Very Fine / Very Fine. [Item #8061]

Price: $50.00