Haim Gouri | |
|---|---|
 Haim Gouri (2005) | |
| Born | Haim Gurfinkel 9 October 1923 |
| Died | 31 January 2018 (aged 94) |
| Citizenship | Israel |
| Alma mater | The Hebrew University of Jerusalem; the Sorbonne |
| Occupation(s) | Poet, novelist, journalist, and documentary filmmaker |
| Awards |
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Haim Gouri (Hebrew: חיים גורי; né Gurfinkel; 9 October 1923 – 31 January 2018) was an Israeli poet, novelist, journalist, and documentary filmmaker. Widely regarded as one of the country's greatest poets, he was awarded the Israel Prize for poetry in 1988, as well as being the recipient of several other prizes of national distinction.
YouTube Encyclopedic
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Poetry in Holocaust Education Part 4/4: "Heritage" by Haim Gouri
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Yair Shamir presents honoree Haim Gouri
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Resistance - Holocaust Survivor Stories
Transcription
Haim Gouri was born in Palestine in 1923. He fought in Israel's War of Independence and then worked with survivors in Displaced Persons' Camps in Europe. He lives in Jerusalem. The ram came last of all. And Abraham did not know that it came to answer the boy's question -- first of his strength, when his day was on the wane. The old man raised his head. Seeing that it was no dream and that the angel stood there -- the knife slipped from his hand. The boy, released from his bonds, saw his father's back. Isaac, as the story goes, was not sacrificed. He lived for many years, saw what pleasure had to offer, until his eyesight dimmed. But he bequeathed that hour to his offspring. They are born with a knife in their hearts. One of the most relentless Bible stories that we have is from chapter 22 of the book of Genesis, and I'm talking about the sacrifice of Isaac. Artists have painted it, poets have aimed their pens at it, and it continues to engage us as we move into the 21st century. Haim Gouri was not living in Europe at the time of the Holocaust, he was living in Palestine, and in this poem "Heritage" he registers his shock at the murder of European Jews. The interesting thing about the poem, like in another famous poem by Dan Pagis, "Written in Pencil in a Freight-car", there is no mention - no direct mention - of the Holocaust. The main motif of this poem is connected to the name of the poem "Heritage". So the question is what heritage do we carry from the biblical story of the sacrifice of Isaac, or from the murder of six million Jews during the Holocaust? Now, Haim Gouri gives us his answer in the last two lines of the poem, when he uses the word "bequeathed", and he says that the subsequent generations have been bequeathed - and "they are born with a knife in their hearts." So this is a very difficult reading of the Holocaust, because basically what Haim Gouri is suggesting is that people were born with some kind of original wound. And of course everybody gives his own answer to this question, to what extent does Jewish history create an original wound in your composite personality.
Biography
Haim Gurfinkel (later Gouri) was born in Tel Aviv[1] to Gila and the politician Yisrael. After studying at the Kadoorie Agricultural High School, he joined the Palmach and completed a commander's course.[2] He participated in the bombing of a British radar station being used to track Aliyah Bet ships carrying illegal Jewish immigrants to Palestine. In 1947 he was sent to Hungary to bring Holocaust survivors to Mandate Palestine. During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War he was a deputy company commander in the Palmach's Negev Brigade.[3]
Gouri studied literature at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Sorbonne in Paris. As a journalist he worked for LaMerhav and later, Davar. He achieved fame with his coverage of the 1961 trial of Adolf Eichmann.[3]
Family
Gouri lived with his wife, Aliza, in Jerusalem.[4] Gouri died on 31 January 2018, at the age of 94.[5]
Literary career
Gouri's first published poem, Day Voyage, appeared in Mishmar, edited by Abraham Shlonsky, in 1945. His first complete volume of poetry, Flowers of Fire, was published in 1949 following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.
Some poems that Gouri wrote became an inseparable part of the Israeli ethos. One of his most famous poems, "Behold, here our bodies lie" (Hebrew: הנה מוטלות גופותינו), was written in the time of Israel's war for independence (1948-1949) to commemorate the 35 soldiers who were killed on their way to the besieged Gush Etzion (Hebrew: גוש עציון) settlements.[6] Gouri also wrote a few famous popular songs such as "The Comradeship" (Hebrew: הרעות) that became representative of Israel's war for independence.
Awards and recognition
- In 1961, Gouri obtained the Sokolow Award for Israeli Journalism.[7]
- The film The 81st Blow, which he wrote, co-produced, and co-directed, was nominated for the 1974 Academy Award for Documentary Feature. It is part of a powerful Holocaust trilogy that includes The Last Sea and Flames in the Ashes.[8]
- In 1975, Gouri was awarded the Bialik Prize for literature.[9]
- In 1988, he was awarded the Israel Prize, for Hebrew poetry.[10]
- In 1998, he won the Uri Zvi Grinberg award.[4]
- In 2004, he was awarded the Prime Minister's Prize for Hebrew Literary Works.
- In 2016, Gouri rejected an award from the Israeli Ministry of Culture and Sport of the annual 50,000 shekel prize for “Zionist works of art”.[11]
Published works
Poetry
- Flowers of Fire (Hebrew: פרחי אש), Hakibbutz Hameuchad (1949)
- Till Dawn (Hebrew: עד עלות השחר), Hakibbutz Hameuchad (1950)
- Poems of the Seal (Hebrew: שירי חותם), Hakibbutz Hameuchad (1954)
- Compass Rose (Hebrew: שושנת רוחות), Hakibbutz Hameuchad (1960)
- Gehazi Visions (Hebrew: מראות גיחזי), Hakibbutz Hameuchad (1967)
- Movement to Touch (Hebrew: תנועה למגע), Hakibbutz Hameuchad (1968)
- The Eagle Line (Hebrew: עד קו נשר), Hakibbutz Hameuchad (1975)
- Summer's End (Hebrew: מחברות אלול), Hakibbutz Hameuchad (1985)
- The One Who Came After Me (Hebrew: הבא אחרי), Hakibbutz Hameuchad (1993)
- Words in My Love-Sick Blood (selected poems in English translation). Detroit: Wayne State University, 1996, ISBN 0-8143-2594-7.
- The Poems (Hebrew: השירים), in two volumes, Bialik Institute (1998)
- Late Poems (Hebrew: מאוחרים), Hakibbutz Hameuchad, (2002)
- I Am a Civil War (Hebrew: אני מלחמת אזרחים), Daniella De-Nur, , Hakibbutz Hameuchad, (2004).
- Eyval (Hebrew: עיבל), Hakibbutz Hameuchad, (2009)
- Though I Wished for More of More (Hebrew: אף שרציתי עוד קצת עוד), Hakibbutz Hameuchad, Daniella De-Nur, (2015)
Fiction
- The Chocolate Deal (Hebrew: הספר המשוגע), Hakibbutz Hameuchad (1965). English translations: New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1968, ISBN 1-125-15196-X. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1999, ISBN 0-8143-2800-8.
- The Crazy Book (Hebrew: הספר המשוגע). Am Oved Publishers, (1971)
- The Interrogation, The Story of Reuel (Hebrew: החקירה, סיפור רעואל). Am Oved Publishers, (1980)
- Who Knows Joseph G? (Hebrew: מי מכיר את יוסף ג'), Hakibbutz Hameuchad (1980)
Non-fiction
- Pages of Jerusalem (Hebrew: דפים ירושלמיים) Hakibbutz Hameuchad, notes (1968)
- Facing the Glass Booth: the Jerusalem Trial of Adolf Eichmann (1962). English translation: Detroit: Wayne State University, 2004, ISBN 0-8143-3087-8.
- The Imprint of Memory (Hebrew: חותם הזיכרון), Hakibbutz Hameuchad, Bialik Institute, (2015).
Documentary films
- The 81st Blow (Ha-Makah Hashmonim V'Echad, 1974), distributed with English subtitles by "American Federation of Jewish Fighters, Camp Inmates and Nazi Victims"
- The Last Sea (Ha-Yam Ha'Aharon, 1980)
- Flames in the Ashes (Pnei Hamered, 1985)
See also
- Hareut
- Hebrew literature
- Sokolov Award
- List of Israel Prize recipients
- List of Bialik Prize recipients
References
- ^ From hard times to bad times, Haaretz
- ^ Israel Hayom[dead link]
- ^ a b Eli Elihau. (17 April 2009). First-person plural Haaretz
- ^ a b Patterson, David; Berger, Alan L.; Cargas, Sarita (30 March 2002). Encyclopedia of Holocaust Literature. Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 9781573562577. Retrieved 9 December 2023 – via Google Books.
- ^ Kershner, Isabel (1 February 2018). "Haim Gouri, Poetic Voice of a Rising Israel, Is Dead at 94". New York Times. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
- ^ Middle Israel: The poetry of primary warriors, The Jerusalem Post
- ^ "List of Sokolow Award recipients, Municipality of Tel Aviv-Yafo website" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-02-09. Retrieved 2018-02-08.
- ^ Israeli Holocaust Trilogy The National Center for Jewish Film
- ^ "List of Bialik Prize recipients 1933–2004 (in Hebrew), Tel Aviv Municipality website" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-12-17.
- ^ "Israel Prize Recipients since its Inception (in Hebrew)- list 4 – מקבלי פרס ישראל מראשיתו". Archived from the original on 2009-06-04. Retrieved 2009-06-10.
- ^ Izikovich, Gili (5 January 2016). "Poet and Palmach Icon Haim Gouri Turns Down 'Zionist Works of Art' Prize". Haaretz. Retrieved 13 January 2016.
External links
- "Haim Gouri" (capsule biography and bibliography) at the Institute for Translation of Hebrew Literature.
- Haim Gouri at IMDb
- "חיים גורי: "מה אתה עושה בשארית חייך" Hebrew article about the poet in later life, retrieved from ynet 28 November 2012.
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This page was last edited on 10 March 2024, at 23:30