Natan Yonatan 1923-2004
Poet, literary figure
Reproduced with permission from
© Haaretz, Sun., March 14, 2004 Adar 21, 5764
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/404241.html
Poet Natan Yonatan dies at 81
By Shiri Lev-Ari
Poet Natan Yonatan died of an illness Friday,
aged 81. His coffin will be displayed today at Beit Hasofer, Tel Aviv,
and he will be buried later in the day at the Kiryat Shaul Cemetery.
Yonatan published 20 collections of poetry and
three works of collected prose, of which tens of thousands of copies have
been sold. He has won several prizes, including an Israeli prize for lifetime
literary achievement and the Newman Prize for Hebrew Literature.
Yonatan will be remembered for, among other things,
his lyrics, which have been used in famous Israeli pop songs. His works
have been translated into several languages, including English, Russian,
Spanish and Chinese.
Yonatan was born in 1923 in Kiev, Ukraine. He immigrated
to Israel at the age of two with his parents Yonah and Leah. The family
lived in Kibbutz Givat Hashlosha, and then moved to Petah Tikva.
Yonatan received his Bachelors degree from Hebrew
University of Jerusalem and a Masters degree in Hebrew and General Literature
from Tel Aviv University. He served for 27 years, until 1997, as chief
editor of Sifriyat Hapoalim publishing house, and spent many years as
a teacher and lecturer.
Natan Yonatan's website: http://natanyonatan.net/
(The site already includes a few translated poems (into english) and in
the future will consist of more information in english.)
More:
A former member of the Haganah and a member of
kibbutz Sarid since 1945, Natan Yonatan published his first book of poetry
(of the 20 in Hebrew alone) in 1951.
His poetry, often inspired and enriched from Biblical
sources, focused on nature and war, themes which also dominated the film
"Lior", dedicated to one of his sons who died in action at Suez
during the Yom Kippur War; Lior was also inspired by nature in his professional
photography. He is also well-known for the poem "Ha-Ish Hahu"
(That Man), later set to music and dedicated to Yitzhak Rabin after the
assassination in 1995.
He served as President of the Israeli Writers'
Association and was the recipient of the Bialik Prize for Literature.
Yonatan was awarded the Newman Prize for Hebrew Literature in February
2001 (Bar Ilan University, The Joseph and Norman Berman Department of
Literature of the Jewish People).
Other famous poems, set to music:
Dugit (The Boat), to a Russian folk
melody
Haredufim Leyad Hahof (The Pursued),
to music by Shlomo Artzi
Hofim (Beaches), to music by Nahum
Heyman
Milim (Words), to music by Sasha
Argov
Zer Kotzim, Kmo Balada (A Crown
of Thorns, Like a Ballad), to music by Gidi Koren
More Hebrew titles can be seen on this Nostalgia
disk
http://www.nostalgia.org.il/cd_natan.asp
Other poems have been set to music by Robert Nissenson
Other Links
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