Nathan Zach

Nathan Zach
Born	(1930-12-13)December 13, 1930 Berlin,Germany
Died	November 6, 2020(2020-11-06)(aged 89) Ramat Gan,Israel
Occupation	Poet
Nationality	Israeli
Notable awards	Bialik Prize Feronia Prize Israel Prize

Nathan Zach(13 December 1930 – 6 November 2020;Hebrew:נתן זך) was an Israeli poet.Widely regarded as one of the preeminent poets in the country's history, he was awarded theIsrael Prizein 1995 forpoetry.He was also therecipientof other national and international awards. Zach was a professor ofHebrewandcomparative literatureat theUniversity of Haifa.

Biography

Born in Berlin to a German-Jewish officer and an Italian Catholic mother, the Seitelbach family fled to theLand of Israelin 1936 following the rise of theNazi regime.The family settled inHaifa.He served in theIsrael Defense Forcesas an intelligence clerk during the1948 Arab-Israeli War.

In 1955, he published his first collection of poetry (Shirim Rishonim,Hebrew:שירים ראשונים), and also translated numerous German plays for the Hebrew stage.

At the vanguard of a group of poets who began to publish after Israel's re-establishment, Zach has had a great influence on the development of modern Hebrew poetry as editor and critic, as well as translator and poet. Distinguishing him among the poets of the generation of the 1950s and 1960s is his poetic manifestoZeman veRitmus etsel Bergson uvaShira haModernit[Time and Rhythm in Bergson and in Modern (Hebrew) Poetry].Zach has been one of the most important innovators in Hebrew poetry since the 1950s, and he is well known in Israel also for his translations of the poetry ofElse Lasker-SchülerandAllen Ginsberg.The literary scholarNili Rachel Scharf Goldhas pointed to Zach as an exemplar illustrating the role of "Mother Tongue" culture, in his case vis-a-vis German, on modern Hebrew literature.

Zach's essay, “Thoughts on Alterman’s Poetry,” which was published in the magazineAchshav(Now) in 1959 was an important manifesto for the rebellion of theLikrat(Towards) group against the lyrical pathos of the Zionist poets, as it included an unusual attack onNathan Alterman,who was one of the most important and esteemed poets in the country. In the essay Zach decides upon new rules for poetry. The new rules that Zach presented were different from the rules of rhyme and meter which were customary in the nation’s poetry at the time.

From 1960 to 1967, Zach lectured in several institutes of higher education both in Tel Aviv and Haifa. From 1968 to 1979 he lived in England and completed hisPhDat theUniversity of Essex.After returning to Israel, he lectured atTel Aviv Universityand was appointed professor at theUniversity of Haifa.He has been chairman of the repertoire board of both the Ohel andCameritheaters.

In his final years, Zach struggled with a worseningAlzheimer's disease,forcing him to reside in anassisted livingfacility.Zach died in November 2020, at age 89.

Awards and critical acclaim

Internationally acclaimed, Zach has been called "the most articulate and insistent spokesman of the modernist movement in Hebrew poetry".He is one of the best known Israeli poets abroad.

• In 1982, Zach was awarded theBialik Prizeforliterature.
• In 1993, he was awarded theFeronia Prize(Rome).
• In 1995, he was awarded theIsrael Prizefor Hebrew poetry.

Controversy

In July 2010 Zach was interviewed on Israel'sChannel 10and accusedMizrahi Jewsfrom Muslim countries of having an inferior culture to that ofJews from Europe;"The idea of taking people who have nothing in common arose. The one lot comes from the highest culture there is —Western European culture— and the other lot comes from the caves. "Theracistcomments resulted in a petition to remove his work from the educational curriculum but it was denied. Zach later apologized.

Published works

• At three (1953)
• First Poems (1955)
• Other Poems (1960)
• All the Milk and Honey (1966)
• Time and Rhythm in Bergson and in Modern Poetry (1966)
• Theatre of the Absurd (1971) - London, Artist Book, collaboration with artistMaty Grunberg
• Book of Esther (1975) - London, free translation, collaboration with artistMaty Grunberg
• Northeasterly (1979)
• Anti-erasure (1984)
• Dog and Bitch Poems (1990)
• Because I'm Around (1996)
• Death of My Mother (1997)
• Because Man is the Tree of the Field (1999)
• A story about the little people (2001)
• The Great Eagle (2001)
• The Bee Dvora (2001)
• The nightingale no longer lives here (2004)
• The Needle Monkey (2004)
• All the songs and new songs (2008)
• From year to year (2009)
• From the place where we were not to the place where we will not be (2013)
• They say it's really beautiful there (2016)

See also

• List of Israel Prize recipients
• List of Bialik Prize recipients

External links

• Admiel Kosman: On terms of Time and the Theological perception of Zach: Reading the Poem ‘Ani Rotze Tamid Eynayim`, in Dorit Weissman (ed.), Makom LeShirah:http://www.poetryplace.org/index.php/online-magazine/-2011/gilayon-42/807Archived2012-03-26 at theWayback Machine