Yosef Haim Brenner

A Life

Nonfiction, History, Middle East, Israel
Cover of the book Yosef Haim Brenner by Anita Shapira, Stanford University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Anita Shapira ISBN: 9780804793131
Publisher: Stanford University Press Publication: December 17, 2014
Imprint: Stanford University Press Language: English
Author: Anita Shapira
ISBN: 9780804793131
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Publication: December 17, 2014
Imprint: Stanford University Press
Language: English

Based on previously unexploited primary sources, this is the first comprehensive biography of Yosef Haim Brenner, one of the pioneers of Modern Hebrew literature. Born in 1881 to a poor Jewish family in Russia, Brenner published his first story, "A Loaf of Bread," in 1900. After being drafted into the Russian army, he deserted to England and later immigrated to Palestine where he became an eminent writer, critic and cultural icon of the Jewish and Zionist cultural milieu. His life was tragically ended in the violent 1921 Jaffa riots. In a nutshell, Brenner's life story encompasses the generation that made "the great leap" from Imperial Russia's Pale of Settlement to the metropolitan centers of modernity, and from traditional Jewish beliefs and way of life to secularism and existentialism. In his writing he experimented with language and form, but always attempting to portray life realistically. A highly acerbic critic of Jewish society, Brenner was relentless in portraying the vices of both Jewish public life and individual Jews. Most of his contemporaries not only accepted his critique, but admired him for his forthrightness and took it as evidence of his honesty and veracity. Renowned author and historian Anita Shapira's new biography illuminates Brenner's life and times, and his relationships with leading cultural leaders such as Nobel laureate S.Y. Agnon, Hayim Nahman Bialik, Israel's National Poet, and many others. Undermining the accepted myths about his life and his death, his depression, his relations with writers, women, and men—including the question of his homoeroticism—this new biography examines Brenner's life in all its complexity and contradiction.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Based on previously unexploited primary sources, this is the first comprehensive biography of Yosef Haim Brenner, one of the pioneers of Modern Hebrew literature. Born in 1881 to a poor Jewish family in Russia, Brenner published his first story, "A Loaf of Bread," in 1900. After being drafted into the Russian army, he deserted to England and later immigrated to Palestine where he became an eminent writer, critic and cultural icon of the Jewish and Zionist cultural milieu. His life was tragically ended in the violent 1921 Jaffa riots. In a nutshell, Brenner's life story encompasses the generation that made "the great leap" from Imperial Russia's Pale of Settlement to the metropolitan centers of modernity, and from traditional Jewish beliefs and way of life to secularism and existentialism. In his writing he experimented with language and form, but always attempting to portray life realistically. A highly acerbic critic of Jewish society, Brenner was relentless in portraying the vices of both Jewish public life and individual Jews. Most of his contemporaries not only accepted his critique, but admired him for his forthrightness and took it as evidence of his honesty and veracity. Renowned author and historian Anita Shapira's new biography illuminates Brenner's life and times, and his relationships with leading cultural leaders such as Nobel laureate S.Y. Agnon, Hayim Nahman Bialik, Israel's National Poet, and many others. Undermining the accepted myths about his life and his death, his depression, his relations with writers, women, and men—including the question of his homoeroticism—this new biography examines Brenner's life in all its complexity and contradiction.

More books from Stanford University Press

Cover of the book Riding the Black Ram by Anita Shapira
Cover of the book The Fall of a Sparrow by Anita Shapira
Cover of the book Conceptual Foundations for Multidisciplinary Thinking by Anita Shapira
Cover of the book Strategy in Asia by Anita Shapira
Cover of the book Multidirectional Memory by Anita Shapira
Cover of the book The Future and Its Enemies by Anita Shapira
Cover of the book Freedom from Work by Anita Shapira
Cover of the book Losing Afghanistan by Anita Shapira
Cover of the book The Permanent Tax Revolt by Anita Shapira
Cover of the book Blown by the Spirit by Anita Shapira
Cover of the book Between Movement and Establishment by Anita Shapira
Cover of the book Power in Uncertain Times by Anita Shapira
Cover of the book South Asia's Weak States by Anita Shapira
Cover of the book Occupational Hazards by Anita Shapira
Cover of the book From Deficit to Deluge by Anita Shapira
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy