Hebrew Literature

Yehoshua, Abraham B.

Biography | Texts | Interviews

A.B.Yehoshua (b. 1936, Jerusalem) currently lives in Haifa. He studied Hebrew Literature and Philosophy at the Hebrew University and later received his teaching certificate. He has since taught at high school and university level. He also taught in Paris while living there from 1963 to 1967. He is currently a professor of Literature at Haifa University.

Best known as a novelist and playwright, A.B. Yehoshua has received several literary prizes, including the Israel and Bialik Prizes, and is one of the best internationally known Israeli authors. Described by The New York Times as "a kind of Israeli Faulkner," A.B. Yehoshua's talents have established him as one of Israel's foremost authors, a novelist with a particular gift for capturing the mood of contemporary Israel. In a style which has been called "anti-stream of consciousness," he explores the animal instincts which threaten the facade of civilized people and examines their isolation from each other, their community and themselves.

Books Published in Hebrew

The Death of the Old Man (stories), Hakibbutz Hameuchad, 1962 [Mot Ha-Zaken]
Facing the Forests (stories), Hakibbutz Hameuchad, 1968 [Mul Ha-Ya'arot]
9 Stories, Hakibbutz Hameuchad, 1971 [9 Sipurim]
Early in Summer 1970 (stories), Schocken, 1972 [Bi-Thilat Kaiytz 1970]
An Evening in May (plays), Schocken, 1975 [Layla Be-May]
Three Days and a Child (stories), Hakibbutz Hameuchad, 1975 [Shlosha Yamim Ve-Yeled]
The Lover (novel), Schocken, 1977 [Ha-Meahev]
For Normality (essay), Schocken, 1980 [Ha-Zechut Le-Normaliut]
Between Right and Right (essay), Schocken, 1980 [Bein Zechut Le-Zechut]
A Late Divorce (novel), Hakibbutz Hameuchad/Siman Kriah, 1982 [Gerushim Meuharim]
Possessions (play), Schocken, 1986 [Hafatzim]
Five Seasons (novel), Hakibbutz Hameuchad/Siman Kriah, 1987 [Molcho]
The Wall and the Mountain (essay), Zmora Bitan, 1989 [Ha-Kir VeHa-Har]
Mr. Mani (novel), Hakibbutz Hameuchad/Siman Kriah, 1990 [Mar Manni]
Babies of the Night (play), Hakkibutz Hameuchad, 1992 [Tinokot Ha-Layla]
Complete Stories, Hakkibutz Hameuchad, 1993 [Col Ha-Sipurim]
The Return from India (novel), Hakibbutz Hameuchad/Siman Kriah, 1994 [Ha-Shiv'a Me-Hodu]
Voyage to the End of the Millenium (novel), Hakibbutz Hameuchad/Siman Kriah, 1997 [Masah El Sof Ha-Elef]

Copyright © The Institute for the Translation of Hebrew Literature.
Reprinted by kind permission of The Institute for the Translation of Hebrew Literature. First published on the website of The Institute for the Translation of Hebrew Literature: www.ithl.org.il

Texts

Reading Practice:

The Lover: Page 1, Page153

Interviews

Interview with A. B. Yehoshua (in English; text)