Jpost-logo
JPost.comPremium Magazine Features
Magazine

The greatest tale

Shmuel Yosef Agnon is considered by many to be the father of modern Hebrew literature.

SY Agnon's library
Photo by: Beit Agnon
Shmuel Yosef Agnon is considered by many to be the father of modern Hebrew literature. His stories and novels have enveloped the Jewish people for more than a century. Agnon’s first book, And the Crooked Shall Be Made Straight, was published exactly 100 years ago by the Labor Zionist newspaper Hapoel Hatzair in 1912. Published in installments, the book was Agnon’s ticket to the literary world, one which was filled with a uniquely biblical language that colored the characters and scenes of stories rooted in both Eastern Europe and the modern State of Israel.

Agnon wrote over 1,000 stories in his lifetime, some as long as 500 pages and others just a page, most of which were published after he died. But like every great writer, there stands behind Agnon an array of people and places that have contributed to his lasting influence and success in the world of literature.

 Read More...
 
 
Jpost.com, the online edition of the Jerusalem Post Newspaper - the most read and best-selling English-language newspaper in Israel. For analysis and opinion from Israel, the Jewish World and the Middle East. Jpost.com offers expert and in-depth reporting from Israel, the Jewish World and the Middle East, including diplomacy and defense, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the Arab Spring, the Mideast peace process, politics in Israel, life in Jerusalem, Israel's international affairs, Iran and its nuclear program, Syria and the Syrian civil war, Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority, the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Israel's world of business and finance, and Jewish life in Israel and the Diaspora.

All rights reserved © The Jerusalem Post 1995 - 2013