Meir Wieseltier
Meir Wieseltier was an Israeli poet and translator. Wieseltier was awarded the 2000 Israel Prize.
Biography
Meir Wieseltier was born in Moscow in 1941, shortly before the German invasion of Russia. He was taken to Novosibirsk in southwestern Siberia by his mother and two older sisters. His father was killed while serving in the Red Army in Leningrad. After two years in Poland, Germany, and France, the family immigrated to Israel. Wieseltier grew up in Netanya.In 1955, he moved to Tel Aviv, where he has lived ever since. He published his first poems at the age of eighteen. He studied at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In the early 1960s, he joined a group known as the Tel Aviv Poets. He was co-founder and co-editor of the literary magazine Siman Kriya, and a poetry editor for the Am Oved publishing house.
Literary career
Wieseltier published 13 volumes of verse. He translated English, French, and Russian poetry into Hebrew. His translations include four of Shakespeare's tragedies, as well as novels by Virginia Woolf, Charles Dickens, E.M. Forster, and Malcolm Lowry. Wieseltier often wrote in the first person, assuming the role of a moralist searching for values in the midst of chaos. He penned powerful poems of social and political protest in Israel. His voice is alternately anarchic and involved, angry and caring, trenchant and lyric.Wieseltier was a poet in residence at the University of Haifa.
Awards
Among the many awards Wieseltier received are the following:- In 1977 and 2011 Wieseltier was the co-recipient Prime Minister's Prize for Hebrew Literary Works
- In 1994, Wieseltier was the co-recipient of the Bialik Prize for literature.
- In 2000, he received the Israel Prize, for literature and poetry.
Published works
- Shirim Iti'im, 2000
- Merudim Vesonatot, 2009
- Perek Alef, Perek Beit, 1967
- Meah Shirim, 1969
- Kakh, 1973
- Davar Optimi, Asiyat Shirim, 1976
- Pnim Vahutz, 1977
- Motzah El Ha-Yam, 1981
- Kitzur Shnot Hashishim 1984
- Ee Yevani 1985
- Michtavim Veshirim Aherim 1986
- Makhsan, 1994
- The Flower of Anarchy, 2003,
- Forty, 2010,
- Davar Optimi, Asiyat Shirim, 2012