The decision to compose exclusively in Hebrew served as the primary objective for a writer who mastered multiple European tongues before settling in Tel Aviv in 1935. Emerging from a youth marked by displacement during the First World War, this polymath established herself as a central figure in the Yachdav literary group, eventually rising to become a professor of comparative literature.
Academic Foundation and Migration
Born in 1911 in Königsberg, she spent her early years in Kaunas and Russia. Her formal education spanned the University of Bonn, Vytautas Magnus University, and the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, where she completed a doctorate in Semitic languages. Her dissertation focused on the Samaritan Targum under the supervision of Paul E. Kahle. In 1935, she relocated to Palestine, joining the Yachdav circle led by Avraham Shlonsky, which favoured Symbolism over the prevailing literary styles of the time.
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Her body of work encompasses poetry, drama, and children's literature, including the widely read stories Room for Rent and Miracles and Wonders. Beyond original creation, she acted as a prolific translator, rendering works by Shakespeare, Tolstoy, Rilke, Thomas Mann, Chekhov, Akhmatova, and Petrarch into modern Hebrew. Her single semi-autobiographical novel, And This is the Light, published in 1946, reflects themes of unrequited love and social friction set against the backdrop of 1931 Europe.
Institutional Career and Final Years
In addition to her writing, she served as a literary editor for the newspapers Davar and Al HaMishmar, as well as at the Sifriyat Po'alim publishing house. Her academic career at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem began in 1954, culminating in her appointment as head of the Department of Comparative Literature in 1963. She received the Newman Prize in 1969. Following a diagnosis of breast cancer, she died in Jerusalem in 1970 and was buried at Har HaMenuchot. She was awarded the Israel Prize posthumously.
Fast facts
- Born: 1911, Königsberg
- Died: 1970, Jerusalem
- Primary Occupation: Poet, playwright, translator, pedagogue
- Academic Institution: Hebrew University of Jerusalem
- Notable Recognition: Israel Prize (1970)
- Notable Work: Evening in front of Gilead
- Burial Site: Har HaMenuchot
Questions readers ask
What languages did she speak?
She was fluent in Hebrew, German, Russian, Lithuanian, Italian, French, and English.
What was her role at the Hebrew University?
She served as a lecturer and later as a full professor and head of the Department of Comparative Literature.
Achievements
- Affiliated with Hebrew University of Jerusalem
- Educated at Vytautas Magnus University, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and University of Bonn
- Worked as poet, pedagogue and translator
