Yeshurun Keshet


Yeshurun Keshet, born Ya'akov Yehoshua Koplewitz, was an Israeli poet, essayist, translator and literary critic.

Biography

Keshet was born in Mińsk Mazowiecki, Congress Poland, and sent by his parents to Tel Aviv in 1911 to attend the Herzliya [Hebrew Gymnasium]. Between 1920 and 1926 he studied at universities in Rome and Berlin, and also taught in Marijampole, Lithuania. He Hebraized his surname following Israeli [Declaration of Independence|the establishment] of the State of Israel in 1948.

Work

Keshet's volumes of poetry include Ha-Helekh ba-Aretz, Elegyot, and Ha-Ḥayyim ha-Genuzim. Notable among his works of literary criticism is his monograph on Micha [Josef Berdyczewski].
Keshet translated into Hebrew numerous classics of philosophy and literature, among them works by Winston Churchill, Moses Hess, William James, Franz Kafka, Jack London, Thomas Mann, and Romain Rolland.

Awards