Yehuda Amichai Criticism
Yehuda Amichai, a German-born Israeli poet, novelist, and dramatist, is renowned for his profound exploration of themes such as love, death, and war, examined through the lens of the Jewish experience. Described by M. L. Rosenthal as "Israel's best-known living poet," Amichai's work is characterized by a deceptively simple diction that marries classical and contemporary Hebrew. His poetry and prose reflect a haunting sense of dislocation and emotional depth, intertwining personal and historical narratives to create a genuine expression of modern Israeli life. His novel Not of This Time, Not of This Place serves as a cornerstone of Israeli Holocaust literature. It explores the trauma and personal identity conflicts faced by a Jewish archeologist torn between his past in Germany and life in Jerusalem, a focus praised by Robert Alter and John Pickford.
Amichai's poetry, as seen in collections like Amen and Time (co-translated with Ted Hughes), addresses the spiritual and political concerns of the Jewish people, emphasizing history's impact on individuals. Edward Hirsch commends these works for their metaphysical richness, while Chana Kronfeld highlights the complex philosophical underpinnings often overlooked in his deceptively simple language. Critics such as Vernon Young appreciate Amichai's ability to explore universal themes through the specific lens of Jewish experiences, using accessible language that fills readers with wonder. His poetry frequently employs motifs that reflect his unique portrayal of God and Jewish identity, analyzed by Nili Scharf Gold and Glenda Abramson.
Amichai's work is celebrated for its articulation of profound emotional truths and exploration of Israeli identity, as noted by Nikki Stiller. His collections, such as The World Is a Room, and Other Stories and A Life of Poetry: 1948–1994, encapsulate his literary evolution and enduring influence, despite some criticisms of simplicity and lack of cohesive ideology. His ability to transform the ordinary into reflections on human existence ensures his place as a pivotal figure in modern literature, as observed by Anthony Rudolf. His poetry is rich with historical sadness and Jewish melancholy, deeply influenced by events like the Holocaust, which Howard Schwartz and Anthony Rudolf highlight in their critiques. Together, these elements establish Amichai as a seminal voice in both Hebrew and world literature.
Contents
- Principal Works
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Amichai, Yehuda (Vol. 22)
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Children and Lovers: On Yehuda Amichai's Poetic Works
(summary)
In the following essay, Warren Bargad explores Yehuda Amichai's poetic works, highlighting his unique voice, simplicity, and wit, as well as his thematic focus on the child and lover figures, which evoke intimacy and vulnerability, while also examining Amichai's use of irony, figurative language, and the philosophical reflections on the human condition.
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On Amichai's Poetry
(summary)
In the following essay, Howard Schwartz analyzes Amichai's works Amen and Travels of a Latter-day Benjamin of Tudela, highlighting their simple yet profound exploration of Jewish identity, longing, and absence through a blend of poetic autobiography and fiction.
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Time
(summary)
In the following essay, Jascha Kessler explores how Yehuda Amichai's collection Time reflects on the personal and historical complexities of living past fifty, intertwining themes of love, war, and the multifaceted temporal experience of residing in Jerusalem.
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It Makes You Wonder
(summary)
In the following essay, Vernon Young explores the themes of dislocation, survival, and the interplay of simplicity and surrealism in Yehuda Amichai's poetry, highlighting the poet's use of Biblical cadence and conversational tone to evoke the transient nature of existence and the enduring mystery of personality.
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Mediterranean East: An Interview with Yehuda Amichai
(summary)
In the following essay, Anthony Rudolf examines Yehuda Amichai’s poetry, highlighting its emotional depth, Jewish melancholy, and historical sadness influenced by the Holocaust, while praising Amichai’s use of extended metaphors and themes such as memory, war, and love, rooted in both Jewish heritage and modern Israeli experience.
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Near East: 'Time'
(summary)
In the following essay, Gila Ramras-Rauch examines Yehuda Amichai's poetry, particularly in "Time," highlighting the themes of repetition, change, and the interplay of personal and external landscapes as he navigates aging, memory, and the self, balancing metaphor with introspective irony and a comprehensive mapping of his lived experiences.
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Nonfiction: 'Love Poems'
(summary)
In the following essay, the critic examines how Yehuda Amichai's "Love Poems" use simplicity and vivid imagery to explore themes of love, memory, mortality, and the emotional complexities of human relationships, often intertwining his personal experiences with the Judean landscape.
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Poetry: 'Love Poems'
(summary)
In the following essay, Rochelle Ratner critiques Yehuda Amichai's Love Poems for prioritizing popular appeal over literary merit, while highlighting the persistent themes of biblical motifs and the Israeli landscape, alongside a critique of the sentimental quality present in some of the poems.
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Children and Lovers: On Yehuda Amichai's Poetic Works
(summary)
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Amichai, Yehuda (Vol. 116)
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Confronting the Holocaust
(summary)
In the following essay, Alter discusses three novels of the post-Holocaust period—including Amichai's Not of This Time, Not of This Place—that attempt to reconcile survivors of modern Judaism with the horrors of the Holocaust.
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Snap Judgments
(summary)
In the following review, Sullivan praises Assia Gutmann's translations of Amichai's work.
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Hard and Soft
(summary)
In the following review of Not of This Time, Not of This Place, Pickford praises Amichai's evocation of "survivor's guilt" and his protagonist's ambiguous response to post-war Germany but finds the novel somewhat disjointed and meandering.
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Saul and David in the Early Poetry of Yehuda Amichai
(summary)
In the following essay, Flinker examines Amichai's use of the biblical figures of Saul and David in his poetry. Amichai revises the traditional stories of Saul and David to make these public, national heroes figures in the private world of an introspective speaker, focusing on their individual human qualities while making only passing reference to the various traditions about them.
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Edward Hirsch: Poet at the Window
(summary)
In the following essay, Hirsch praises Amichai's book of poems Amen, in particular his love poems and his ability to evoke major metaphysical issues through microcosmic images.
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In the Great Wilderness
(summary)
In the following review, Stiller praises Amichai as a poet who is representative of the Israeli spirit and tradition, but who also adds an air of modernity to the historical consciousness of his poems.
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On Amichai's El male rahamin
(summary)
In the following essay, Sokoloff examines the significance and use of language in El male rahamin as well as how the work fits into the modern Hebrew literary canon.
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The World Is a Room and Other Stories
(summary)
In the following review, Ramras-Rauch offers a favorable impression of Amichai's volume of short stories, noting Amichai's ability to suffuse ordinary experiences with extraordinary insights.
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Yehuda Amichai: The Poet as Prose Writer
(summary)
In the following essay, which was originally presented as an address in February 1985 in Mishkenot Sha'ananim, Jerusalem, to celebrate the English translation of Amichai's volume of short stories, The World Is a Room, Halkin explains the differences between a poet and a prose writer and speculates on Amichai's decision to turn to prose to express himself.
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Farewell to Arms and Sentimentality: Reflections of Israel's Wars in Yehuda Amichai's Poetry
(summary)
In the following essay, Mazor examines Amichai's unsentimental approach to the brutality of Israel's wars.
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Toward a Tragic Wisdom and Beyond
(summary)
In the following review, Irwin praises the poems in Selected Poetry of Yehuda Amichai but questions the publisher's decision to have the poems retranslated.
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'The Wisdom of Camouflage': Between Rhetoric and Philosophy in Amichai's Poetic System
(summary)
In the following essay, Kronfeld argues that, despite the opinion of his detractors to the contrary, Amichai demonstrates in his poetry a clearly defined philosophical and ontological system of thought and belief.
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An Analysis of Yehuda Amichai
(summary)
In the following review, Spicehandler finds Glenda Abramson's The Writings of Yehuda Amichai: A Thematic Approach to be a valuable contribution to Amichai criticism.
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A Life of Poetry: 1948–1994
(summary)
In the following review, Ramras-Rauch presents a brief overview of Amichai's career and praises his collected volume A Life of Poetry: 1948–1994.
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Two Jewish Ironists
(summary)
In the following review, Slavitt examines Amichai's characteristic use of irony.
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Reading Amichai Reading
(summary)
In the following essay, Kronfeld explores the ways in which Amichai retains accessibility while also using complex intertextuality in his poetry.
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The Selected Poetry of Yehuda Amichai
(summary)
In the following review, Ramras-Rauch presents a brief overview of Amichai's major themes and praises The Selected Poetry of Yehuda Amichai as "another occasion to enjoy the work of a poet whose complex simplicity continues to challenge lovers of poetry."
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Poetry Chronicle
(summary)
In the following review, Haines discusses the contemporary relevance of Amichai's work in The Selected Poetry of Yehuda Amichai.
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Confronting the Holocaust
(summary)
- Amichai, Yehuda (Vol. 9)
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Amichai, Yehuda
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A review of Time: Poems by Yehuda Amichai
(summary)
In the following review of Time, Young addresses Amichai's use of language, his religious themes, and the historical context of his poetry. Young concludes that Amichai's poetry 'fills the reader with wonder.'
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Amichai's God
(summary)
In the following essay, Abramson discusses the theme of faith in Amichai's poetry, concluding, “Amichai's God is like no other God in Hebrew poetry.”
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The Love Poetry of Yehuda Amichai
(summary)
In the following essay, Abramson discusses the theme of love in Amichai's poetry, focusing on the alteration of love within various contexts such as time, war, youth and maturity, memory and religion. The poetry proposes an idealized love that serves as a substitute for religious belief and describes the search for this perfect love as a means of escaping guilt for the abandonment of God.
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Flowers, Fragrances, and Memories: The Different Functions of Plant Images in Amichai's Later Poetry
(summary)
In the following essay, Gold discusses the recurring imagery of plants and flowers in Amichai's poetry.
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A Burning Bush or a Fire of Thorns: Toward a Revisionary Reading of Amichai's Poetry
(summary)
In the following essay, Gold analyzes recurring motifs throughout Amichai's oeuvre.
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Wrestling with the Angel of History: The Poetry of Yehuda Amichai
(summary)
In the following essay, Bloch discusses the ways in which Amichai's poems address the meaning of the Jewish experience in history.
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Yehuda Amichai: Poet at the Window
(summary)
In the following essay, Hirsch explores central themes in the poetry of Amichai, such as love, war, history, and Jewish identity.
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Open Closed Open
(summary)
In the following review, Publishers Weekly offers a favorable assessment of Amichai's poetry collection Open Closed Open, which constructs a lineage in personal and cultural history through 25 longish poems that reflect on themes of reverence for God, Holocaust memories, and personal confessions. The collection is noted for its well-rendered English text, though some rhymes show strain. Mortality and remembrance dominate the poems, culminating in a reflection on the high stakes of writing and life.
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Amichai's Counter-Theology: Opening Open Closed Open
(summary)
In the following review, Bloch and Kronfeld discuss Amichai's perspective on God and Judaism, as expressed in his poetry.
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A Yad for My Friend Yahuda
(summary)
In the following essay, Hadary offers a general assessment of Amichai's poetry, at the time of his death in the year 2000.
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‘A Final Hard Amen’: Yehuda Amichai, 1923-2000
(summary)
In the following review of Amichai's Open Closed Open, Biespiel offers a favorable assessment of the poet's accomplishments.
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A review of Time: Poems by Yehuda Amichai
(summary)
- Further Reading