Amos Oz

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Amos Oz (2005)

Amos Oz ( Hebrew עמוס עוז, born as Amos Klausner on May 4, 1939 in Jerusalem ; died on December 28, 2018 in Petach Tikva ) was an Israeli writer , journalist and intellectual . His literary work includes a number of novels , short stories , essays and children's books that have been translated into numerous languages, making him the most translated Israeli author. He has been honored with a number of international awards, including the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade , the Israel Prize , the Goethe Prize , the Prince of Asturias Prize, and numerous honorary doctorates . In addition, he was professor of Hebrew literature at the Ben Gurion University of the Negev in Beer Sheva for many years . Oz is considered one of the most important Israeli writers.

In addition to his writing activities, Oz was also known as a political journalist and activist, with his main interest in the Middle East conflict . In this context he was considered a prominent proponent of a "two-state solution" and was a co-founder of the Peace Now peace movement .

Life

Amos Oz was born in 1939 in the Kerem Avraham district of Jerusalem , which was mainly inhabited by Eastern European immigrants of the Jewish faith, and last lived in Arad in the Negev desert.

He was the great-nephew of the Zionist scholar Joseph Gedalja Klausner . His grandparents fled from Odessa to Vilnius in 1917 and emigrated to Palestine with their son Jehuda Arie (1910 - April 11, 1970), Amos' father, in 1933 . His mother Fania Klausner, née Mußmann (1913 - January 6, 1952), came to Palestine in 1934.

Amos Oz with his wife Nily Oz, 2008
Amos Oz (2013)

When Amos Oz was 13 years old, his mother committed suicide. Two years later, in 1954, he joined Kibbutz Chulda and took the name Oz (Hebrew for "strength, strength"). He spent three years as a soldier in the Nachal Brigade of the Israeli army , as a reservist he fought in 1967 in the Six Day War and in 1973 in the Yom Kippur War . He then studied literature and philosophy at the Hebrew University from 1960 to 1963. During this time Oz published his first short stories in the literary newspaper Keshet (German "rainbow"). In 1960 he married Nily Zuckerman, with whom he later had three children, two daughters and a son. His eldest daughter, Fania Oz-Salzberger , is a historian and professor at the University of Haifa . His sister-in-law Laura Janner-Klausner is the Chief Rabbi of Reform Judaism in the United Kingdom .

From 1987 to 2005 Oz was a full professor of Hebrew literature at Ben Gurion University of the Negev in Beer Sheva . In 1993 he received the Agnon Chair for Modern Hebrew Literature there.

Oz died of cancer in December 2018 at the age of 79.

plant

Amos Oz has authored a number of novels and short stories , several essay volumes and three children's books , as well as numerous articles and essays published in magazines. His work has been translated into 36 languages, making him the most translated Israeli author ahead of Ephraim Kishon and Uri Orlev .

From his first narratives in the early 1960s, social and political tensions in Israel have been the focus of Oz's work. In particular, life in the kibbutz with its social and family conflicts was represented by him in a form that was never seen before. This, and Oz's constant advocacy of left-wing political movements in Israel, meant that his work was primarily perceived from a sociopolitical perspective, both domestically and abroad. Oz repeatedly pointed out, however, that he does not attribute the problems of human life to the social order, but to deeper, primeval human drives and needs. Time and again, the protagonists of his works are sent on journeys in which they explore, understand and live with these existential drives.

According to Yair Mazor, Oz's work is determined by two opposing poles: a strictly logical, disciplined rationalism , which is also shown in his concise, controlled and carefully observed essays, and a dark, demonic world of unbridled passions that often turn into the clean, clear Counterworld threatens to invade. Gila Ramras-Rauch says that Oz exorcises both his psychological and his political demons in his works. The works could be read in a materialistic and a mythical way at the same time. Oz emphasized that he not only wanted to write about Jewish concerns, but also about the importance of being human, the power of love and the formative influences of landscapes. Despite adverse individual circumstances, his stories often have a conciliatory, hopeful outcome.

Political views and activities

Amos Oz, 1965

Oz began his political activity as an activist for the social democratic movement Min Hayesod in the 1960s and later the Moked party in Israel. After 1967 he was a prominent proponent of the "two-state solution" in the Middle East conflict . He participated in the Six-Day War and the Yom Kippur War in part, and after the publication of a letter of several officers of the Israel Defense Forces to the then Prime Minister Menachem Begin , he founded, among others, with the subsequent Knesset -Angehörigen Tzali Reshef and other organization Peace Now (Peace Now) , which is part of the Israeli peace movement .

In his speeches and essays, Oz often attacked the anti-Zionist left or accused it of giving up:

“The concept of civilizations flapping flags over their territories strikes me as archaic and murderous. In this regard, we Jews have demonstrated for millennia what I would like to see as the next phase in history: a civilization without territorial borders, or two hundred civilizations without a single nation state. But as a Jew, I can no longer afford such illusions. I set an example for two millennia, but no one followed. "

In 1988, Oz, along with the poet Jehuda Amichai and the novelist Abraham B. Jehoshua, published a letter in the New York Times to the Jews in the United States asking them to raise their voices on the Middle East conflict and their opinion on what he saw as the myopic Israeli To say politics in the Palestinian territories. In a speech at a Peace Now event in 1989, he named the supporters of the orthodox Meir Kahane as a “messianic sect” and stressed that he would not take part in the expulsion of Arabs from Israel.

Until the 1990s, Oz moved close to the positions of the Israeli labor party Avoda and became a close friend of Shimon Peres , but then joined the Meretz party under the leadership of Shulamit Aloni . In 1993, Oz welcomed the creation of the Oslo Agreement on Declaration of Principles on Temporary Self-Government between Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat to resolve the Middle East conflict within the scope of the Oslo Peace Process by publicly supporting them. Before the 2001 elections, however, Oz and a group of peace activists in Haaretz published a statement denying the right of return for Palestinian refugees to Israel on the grounds that such an event would lead to the destruction of the Jewish state.

In 2006, Oz defended the war against Hezbollah in Lebanon in an article in the Los Angeles Times and in 2008 in the Bild newspaper, the war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip . However, he revised his attitude to the Israeli offensive in Lebanon in the course of the operation and, two weeks after the beginning of the Gaza war, called for a ceasefire: "Hamas is responsible [...] but the time has come to seek a ceasefire."

Amos Oz together with Mirjam Pressler , translator of several of his works, at the Leipzig Book Fair 2015

Unlike some Peace Now representatives , Oz supported the barrier between Israel and the West Bank. But he advocated that the border should run approximately on the so-called Green Line .

Oz was one of the initiators of the left-wing list “The New Movement- Meretz ” (Hatnua Hahadasha) , which ran in the Israeli parliamentary elections in February 2009 .

In 2016, Amos Oz took part in the funeral of former Israeli President Shimon Peres as the last public appearance and commented “And because Israelis and Palestinians cannot suddenly become one happy family and jump into a double bed for a honeymoon, we have to split this house into two apartments . But where are the brave and clever politicians today who can bring about just that? "

Awards

Works

Novels

  • Nobody is left alone. Claassen, Düsseldorf 1976, ISBN 3-546-47327-2 (Hebrew: makom acher. Translated by Nili Mirsky, Jörg Trobitius, literal translated title: Another place).
  • My Michael. Claassen, Düsseldorf 1983, ISBN 978-3-546-47326-2 .
  • The perfect peace. Insel, Frankfurt am Main 1987, ISBN 978-3-458-16590-3 (Hebrew: menuchah nechonah. Translated by Ruth Achlama ).
  • Black box. Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 1991, ISBN 978-3-518-38398-8 .
  • Recognize a woman. Insel, Frankfurt am Main 1991, ISBN 978-3-458-16193-6 (Hebrew: lada'at ischah. Translated by Ruth Achlama).
  • The third state. Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 1992, ISBN 978-3-518-39121-1 (Hebrew: ha mazaw ha schlischi. Translated by Ruth Achlama).
  • Don't call the night night. Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 1995, ISBN 978-3-518-40697-7 (Hebrew: al tagidi lailah. Translated by Ruth Achlama).
  • A different place. Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 2001, ISBN 978-3-518-39948-4 (Hebrew: makom acher. Translated by Ruth Achlama, new translation of the first novel that was previously published under the title “Nobody stays alone”).
  • The sea alone. Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 2002, ISBN 978-3-518-41367-8 .
  • A story of love and darkness . Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 2004, ISBN 978-3-518-41616-7 (Hebrew: ssipur al ahavah wechoschech. Translated by Ruth Achlama).
  • Verses on life and death. Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 2008, ISBN 978-3-518-41965-6 (Hebrew: Charuse ha-chajim we-ha-mawet. Translated by Mirjam Pressler ).
  • Judas . Suhrkamp, ​​Berlin 2015, ISBN 978-3-518-42479-7 (Hebrew: Habesora al pi Jehuda. Translated by Mirjam Pressler).

stories

Non-fiction books, essays and lectures

  • Amos Oz, Avraham Shapira: Conversations with Israeli soldiers . Joseph Melzer, 1970, OCLC 164672940 (Hebrew: Siach Lochamim .). Extended new edition: You shoot and cry. Talks with Israeli soldiers after the Six Day War . Westend, Frankfurt am Main 2017, ISBN 978-3-86489-159-5 .
  • Israel: the rubble of an illusion . In: Contemporary History Documentation . No. 26 . SDZ, Münster 1982, ISBN 3-88780-026-5 .
  • In the land of Israel. Fall 1982 . Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 1984, ISBN 3-518-37566-0 .
  • Report on the state of Israel (=  Suhrkamp-Taschenbuch . No. 2192 ). Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 1992, ISBN 3-518-38692-1 .
  • The hills of Lebanon. Political essays (=  edition suhrkamp . No. 1876 ). Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 1995, ISBN 3-518-11876-5 .
  • This is how the stories begin . Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 1997, ISBN 3-518-40914-X .
  • The silence of heaven - on Samuel J. Agnon . Jüdischer Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1998, ISBN 3-633-54147-0 .
  • Israel and Palestine: a two-family house? Political essays (=  edition suhrkamp . No. 2232 ). Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 2001, ISBN 3-518-12232-0 .
  • Amos Oz, Izzat Ghazzawi : How to Cure Fanatics. Tübingen poetry lectureship in 2002 (=  Suhrkamp . No. 2309 ). Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 2004, ISBN 3-518-12309-2 .
  • Israel and Germany. Forty years after the establishment of diplomatic relations (=  edition suhrkamp . No. 6798 ). Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 2005, ISBN 3-518-06798-2 (special print).
  • Amos Oz, Fania Oz-Salzberger: Jews and words . Jüdischer Verlag, Berlin 2013, ISBN 978-3-633-54268-0 (Hebrew).
  • Jesus and Judas - an interjection . Patmos Verlag, Ostfildern 2018, ISBN 978-3-8436-1051-3 .
  • Dear fanatics. Three pleadings . Suhrkamp, ​​Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-518-42802-3 .
  • Germany and Israel . Suhrkamp, ​​Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-8445-3023-0 .

Books for children and young readers

  • Adventure in Jerusalem. Huber, Frauenfeld / Stuttgart 1981, ISBN 3-7193-0814-6 .
  • Sumchi. A true story of love and adventure. Translated from the Hebrew by Mirjam Pressler, illustrated by Quint Buchholz. Hanser, Munich 1993, ISBN 3-446-17391-9 .
  • Panthers in the basement. From the Hebrew by Vera Loos and Naomi Nir-Bleimling. C. Hanser, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-446-18566-6 .

literature

  • Bernd Feininger : Understanding Amos Oz. Literature and Jewish Heritage in Israel Today. (= Work on the New Testament and Judaism. Vol. 9). Lang, Frankfurt am Main 1988, ISBN 3-8204-9535-5 .

Movies

  • Amos Oz: Of desert and hope. Conversation with video recordings, France, Germany, 2013, 43 min., Moderation: Vincent Josse, production: arte France, editing: Square , first broadcast: March 24, 2013 by arte, summary by arte.
  • Amos Oz. The nature of dreams. Documentary, Israel, Germany, 2009, 72 min., Script and direction: Masha and Yonathan Zur, production: ZDF , arte , summary by arte.

Web links

Commons : Amos Oz  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ funeral: Israel takes leave of Amos Oz. In: zeit.de. December 31, 2018, accessed January 2, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Rivlin: "You were not afraid to be called a traitor". In: Israelnetz .de. January 2, 2019, accessed January 18, 2019 .
  3. ↑ a b Itamar Zohar: Amos Oz, Israeli Literary Giant, Dies at 79. In: Haaretz.com, December 28, 2018; accessed on January 4, 2019.
  4. ↑ Abraham Balaban: Between God and Beast. An Examination of Amos Oz's Prose. Pennsylvania State University Press, University Park 1993, ISBN 0-271-00851-2 , p. 253 (Bibliography).
  5. ↑ Israeli writer Amos Oz dies. Oz died of cancer at the age of 79. In: deutschlandfunkkultur.de. December 28, 2018, accessed December 28, 2018 .
  6. ↑ Amos Oz is most translated Israeli author. In: ynetnews.com. December 31, 1999, accessed December 28, 2018 .
  7. ↑ Abraham Balaban: Between God and Beast. An Examination of Amos Oz's Prose. Pennsylvania State University Press, University Park 1993, ISBN 0-271-00851-2 , pp. 1-3. ( via Questia )
  8. ↑ Yair Mazor: Somber Lust. The Art of Amos Oz. State University of New York Press, Albany 2002, ISBN 0-7914-5308-1 , pp. 1-2.
  9. ↑ Gila Ramras-Rauch: Oz, Amos. In: David Patterson, Alan L Berger, Sarita Cargas (Eds.): Encyclopedia of Holocaust literature. Oryx Press, Westport 2002, ISBN 1-57356-257-2 , p. 139.
  10. ^ Patrick M. O'Neil: Great World Writers: Twentieth Century. Volume 9. Marshall Cavendish, New York 2004, ISBN 0-7614-7477-3 , p. 1165. ( via Questia )
  11. ^ A b c d e Roy Rubinstein: Amos Oz: The moral beacon of Israel's left-wing camp. In: ynetnews.com, December 30, 2018; accessed on January 4, 2019.
  12. ↑ Fred Viebahn : One day at Amos Oz. In: Free Jewish voice. No. 8, July 1980.
  13. ↑ Yehuda Amichai, Amos Elon, Amos Oz, AB Yehoshua: Silence of American Jews Supports Wrong Side. In: The New York Times Jerusalem, February 21, 1988; accessed on January 4, 2019.
  14. ↑ a b Frank Ludwig: Obituary for Amos Oz: A life for literature and understanding. In: tagesschau.de, December 28, 2018; accessed on January 4, 2019.
  15. ↑ Amos Oz: Caught in the crossfire. In: Los Angeles Times. July 19, 2006, archived from the original on January 18, 2010 ; accessed on December 28, 2018 .
  16. ↑ Amos Oz: Israel must defend its citizens. In: Bild (newspaper). December 28, 2008, accessed December 28, 2018 .
  17. ^ The war in Gaza - vicious folly of a bankrupt government. In: zope.gush-shalom.org. Gush Schalom , December 29, 2008, accessed on January 2, 2019 .
  18. ↑ Amos Oz: Hamas responsible for outbreak of Gaza violence. In: Haaretz . December 30, 2008, accessed May 4, 2009 .
  19. ↑ New leftist movement is running in Knesset elections. In: Israel Network . December 23, 2008, accessed July 20, 2019 .
  20. ↑ Meretz, Hatnua Hahadasha finalize merger, lists. In: The Jerusalem Post . December 23, 2008, accessed December 28, 2018 .
  21. ^ The laureate 1992. Amos Oz. In: friedenspreis-des-deutschen-buchhandels.de. October 4, 1992, accessed January 2, 2019 .
  22. ^ 1992 Peace Prize to Amos Oz - laudation and thanks. (PDF) Retrieved on January 2, 2019 (laudation (by Siegfried Lenz) and thanks ("Peace and Love and Compromise")).
  23. ↑ Bruno Kreisky Prize for the Political Book Prize Winners 1993-2018 , renner-institut.at, accessed December 1, 2019
  24. ^ Literatur im Nebel 2007. Amos Oz. In: literaturimnebel.at. City of Heidenreichstein , Lower Austria , accessed on January 2, 2019 .
  25. ↑ Press release of the city of Düsseldorf of December 13, 2008: Heine Prize for Amos Oz: Richard von Weizsäcker gave laudatory speech. Ceremony on December 13th / Jury: Oz combines literary creativity, political sensitivity and humanistic commitment. ( Memento from February 7, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  26. ↑ Eredoctoraat Algemene merits voor Amos OZ . Communication from the Center Pieter Gillis, University of Antwerp, dated 6 May 2008.
  27. ↑ Roland Kaufhold : Amos Oz and Sari Nusseibeh receive the Siegfried Unseld Prize. In: haGalil . October 4, 2010, accessed January 2, 2019 .
  28. ↑ Honorary Degrees 2013-14. In: Trinity College Dublin . Retrieved July 30, 2014 .
  29. ↑ Gerrit Bartels: International Literature Prize for Amos Oz: Traitors can be change makers. In: tagesspiegel.de . June 29, 2015, accessed January 2, 2019 .
  30. ↑ Jerusalem: Church Peace Prize for Amos Oz | domradio.de. Retrieved July 17, 2017 .
  31. ↑ Barbara Galaktionow: "I killed a family man - it tears you apart". In: sueddeutsche.de . June 5, 2017, Retrieved November 7, 2018 (review).
  32. ↑ Kevin Zdiara: Self-reflection in Israel a mega-bestseller: Amos Oz 'and Avraham Shapira's notes of conversations after the Six Day War: Talking about war. In: taz.de . June 3, 2017, accessed November 7, 2018 .
  33. ↑ Tobias Krause: Because they only know how to count to one - Amos Oz about fanatics. In: NZZ . September 4, 2018, Retrieved November 7, 2018 (review).
  34. ↑ Amos Oz: Of Desert and Hope. March 24, 2013, archived from the original on May 2, 2013 ; accessed on January 2, 2019 .
  35. ↑ Amos Oz. The Nature of Dreams. 2009, archived from the original on April 18, 2013 ; accessed on January 2, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Oz, Amos
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Klausner, Amos (maiden name); עמוס עוז (Hebrew)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Israeli writer and co-founder of the Peace Now political movement
DATE OF BIRTH May 4, 1939
PLACE OF BIRTH Jerusalem
DATE OF DEATH December 28, 2018
Place of death Petach Tikva