Yosef Haim Brenner
Encyclopedia
Yosef Haim Brenner was a Russia
n-born Hebrew-language
author, one of the pioneers of modern Hebrew literature
.
. He studied at a yeshiva
in Pochep, and published his first story, Pat Lechem ("A Loaf of Bread") in HaMelitz, a Hebrew language newspaper, in 1900, followed by a collection of short stories in 1901.
In 1902, Brenner was drafted into the Russian army. Two years later, when the Russo-Japanese War
broke out, he deserted. He was initially captured, but escaped to London
with the help of the General Jewish Labor Bund which he had joined as a youth.
In 1905, he met the Yiddish writer Lamed Shapiro
. Brenner lived in an apartment in Whitechapel
which doubled as an office for HaMe'orer, a Hebrew periodical that he edited and published in 1906-07. In 1922, Asher Beilin published Brenner in London about this period in Brenner's life.
Brenner married Chaya, with whom he had a son, Uri.
Brenner immigrated to Palestine
(then part of the Ottoman Empire
) in 1909. He worked as a farmer, eager to put his Zionist
ideology into practice. Unlike A. D. Gordon
, however, he could not take the strain of manual labor, and soon left to devote himself to literature and teaching at the Gymnasia Herzliya
in Tel Aviv
. According to biographer Anita Shapira
, he suffered from depression and problems of sexual identity. He was murdered in Jaffa
on May 1921 during the Jaffa riots
.
, Yiddish
, English
and Arabic
. In his attempt to portray life realistically, his work is full of emotive punctuation and ellipses. Robert Alter
, in the collection Modern Hebrew Literature, writes that Brenner "had little patience for the aesthetic dimension of imaginative fictions: 'A single particle of truth,' he once said, 'is more valuable to me than all possible poetry.'" Brenner "wants the brutally depressing facts to speak for themselves, without any authorial intervention or literary heightening." This was Alter's preface to Brenner's story, "The Way Out", published in 1919, and set during Turkish and British struggles over Palestine in WWI
.
, Hanoar Haoved Vehalomed
. Kibbutz
Givat Brenner
was also named for him, whilst kibbutz Revivim
was named in honour of his magazine. The Brenner Prize, one of Israel's top literary awards, is named for him.
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n-born Hebrew-language
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
author, one of the pioneers of modern Hebrew literature
Hebrew literature
Hebrew literature consists of ancient, medieval, and modern writings in the Hebrew language. It is one of the primary forms of Jewish literature, though there have been cases of literature written in Hebrew by non-Jews...
.
Biography
Brenner was born to a poor Jewish family in Novi Mlini, Russian EmpireRussian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
. He studied at a yeshiva
Yeshiva
Yeshiva is a Jewish educational institution that focuses on the study of traditional religious texts, primarily the Talmud and Torah study. Study is usually done through daily shiurim and in study pairs called chavrutas...
in Pochep, and published his first story, Pat Lechem ("A Loaf of Bread") in HaMelitz, a Hebrew language newspaper, in 1900, followed by a collection of short stories in 1901.
In 1902, Brenner was drafted into the Russian army. Two years later, when the Russo-Japanese War
Russo-Japanese War
The Russo-Japanese War was "the first great war of the 20th century." It grew out of rival imperial ambitions of the Russian Empire and Japanese Empire over Manchuria and Korea...
broke out, he deserted. He was initially captured, but escaped to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
with the help of the General Jewish Labor Bund which he had joined as a youth.
In 1905, he met the Yiddish writer Lamed Shapiro
Lamed Shapiro
Levi Yehoshua Shapiro , better known as "Lamed Shapiro", , was an American Yiddish-language writer.-Biography:...
. Brenner lived in an apartment in Whitechapel
Whitechapel
Whitechapel is a built-up inner city district in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, London, England. It is located east of Charing Cross and roughly bounded by the Bishopsgate thoroughfare on the west, Fashion Street on the north, Brady Street and Cavell Street on the east and The Highway on the...
which doubled as an office for HaMe'orer, a Hebrew periodical that he edited and published in 1906-07. In 1922, Asher Beilin published Brenner in London about this period in Brenner's life.
Brenner married Chaya, with whom he had a son, Uri.
Brenner immigrated to Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
(then part of the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
) in 1909. He worked as a farmer, eager to put his Zionist
Zionism
Zionism is a Jewish political movement that, in its broadest sense, has supported the self-determination of the Jewish people in a sovereign Jewish national homeland. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Zionist movement continues primarily to advocate on behalf of the Jewish state...
ideology into practice. Unlike A. D. Gordon
A. D. Gordon
Aaron David Gordon , more commonly known as A. D. Gordon, was a Zionist ideologue and the spiritual force behind practical Zionism and Labor Zionism. He founded Hapoel Hatzair, a movement that set the tone for the Zionist movement for many years to come. Influenced by Leo Tolstoy and others, it is...
, however, he could not take the strain of manual labor, and soon left to devote himself to literature and teaching at the Gymnasia Herzliya
Herzliya Hebrew High School
The Herzliya Hebrew Gymnasium , originally known as HaGymnasia HaIvrit is a historic high school in Tel Aviv, Israel.-History:...
in Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...
. According to biographer Anita Shapira
Anita Shapira
Anita Shapira is an Israeli historian. She is the founder of the Yitzhak Rabin Center for Israel Studies, a Ruben Merenfeld Professor of the Study of Zionism and head of the Weizmann Institute for the Study of Zionism at Tel Aviv University...
, he suffered from depression and problems of sexual identity. He was murdered in Jaffa
Jaffa
Jaffa is an ancient port city believed to be one of the oldest in the world. Jaffa was incorporated with Tel Aviv creating the city of Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel. Jaffa is famous for its association with the biblical story of the prophet Jonah.-Etymology:...
on May 1921 during the Jaffa riots
Jaffa riots
The Jaffa riots were a series of violent riots in Palestine on May 1–7, 1921, which began as a fight between two Jewish groups but developed into an attack by Arabs on Jews during which many were killed...
.
Zionist views
In his writing, Brenner praised the Zionist endeavor, but also contradicted himself, contending that the Land of Israel was just another diaspora and no different from other diasporas.Writing style
Brenner was very much an "experimental" writer, both in his use of language and in literary form. With Modern Hebrew still in its infancy, Brenner improvised with an intriguing mixture of Hebrew, AramaicAramaic language
Aramaic is a group of languages belonging to the Afroasiatic language phylum. The name of the language is based on the name of Aram, an ancient region in central Syria. Within this family, Aramaic belongs to the Semitic family, and more specifically, is a part of the Northwest Semitic subfamily,...
, Yiddish
Yiddish language
Yiddish is a High German language of Ashkenazi Jewish origin, spoken throughout the world. It developed as a fusion of German dialects with Hebrew, Aramaic, Slavic languages and traces of Romance languages...
, English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
and Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
. In his attempt to portray life realistically, his work is full of emotive punctuation and ellipses. Robert Alter
Robert Alter
Robert Bernard Alter is an American professor of Hebrew language and comparative literature at the University of California, Berkeley, where he has taught since 1967.-Biography:...
, in the collection Modern Hebrew Literature, writes that Brenner "had little patience for the aesthetic dimension of imaginative fictions: 'A single particle of truth,' he once said, 'is more valuable to me than all possible poetry.'" Brenner "wants the brutally depressing facts to speak for themselves, without any authorial intervention or literary heightening." This was Alter's preface to Brenner's story, "The Way Out", published in 1919, and set during Turkish and British struggles over Palestine in WWI
Middle Eastern theatre of World War I
The Middle Eastern theatre of World War I was the scene of action between 29 October 1914, and 30 October 1918. The combatants were the Ottoman Empire, with some assistance from the other Central Powers, and primarily the British and the Russians among the Allies of World War I...
.
Commemoration
The site of his murder is now marked by Brenner House, a center for the youth organization of the HistadrutHistadrut
HaHistadrut HaKlalit shel HaOvdim B'Eretz Yisrael , known as the Histadrut, is Israel's organization of trade unions. Established in December 1920 during the British Mandate for Palestine, it became one of the most powerful institutions of the State of Israel.-History:The Histadrut was founded in...
, Hanoar Haoved Vehalomed
Hanoar Haoved Vehalomed
Histadrut HaNoar HaOved VeHaLomed , sometimes abbreiviated to No'al is an Israeli youth movement, a sister movement of Habonim Dror, the Labor Zionist movement....
. Kibbutz
Kibbutz
A kibbutz is a collective community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economic branches, including industrial plants and high-tech enterprises. Kibbutzim began as utopian communities, a combination of socialism and Zionism...
Givat Brenner
Givat Brenner
Givat Brenner , also written Giv'at Brener, is a kibbutz in the Center District of Israel. Located around two kilometres south of Rehovot, it falls under the jurisdiction of Brenner Regional Council...
was also named for him, whilst kibbutz Revivim
Revivim
Revivim showers) is a kibbutz in the Negev desert in southern Israel. Located around half an hour south of Beersheba, it falls under the jurisdiction of Ramat HaNegev Regional Council...
was named in honour of his magazine. The Brenner Prize, one of Israel's top literary awards, is named for him.
Published works
- In Winter (novel), Hashiloah, 1904 [Ba-Horef]
- Around the Point (novel), Hashiloah, 1904 [Misaviv La-Nekudah]
- Min Hametzar (novel), 1908
- Nerves (novella), Shalekhet, 1910 [Atzabim]
- English: In Eight Great Hebrew Short Novels, New York, New American Library, 1983
- Spanish: In Ocho Obras Maestras de la Narrativa Hebrea, Barcelona, Riopiedras, 1989
- French: Paris, Intertextes, 1989; Paris, Noel Blandin, 1991
- From Here and There (novel), Sifrut, 1911 [Mi-Kan U-Mi-Kan]
- Breakdown and Bereavement (novel), Shtiebel, 1920 [Shchol Ve-Kishalon]
- English: London, Cornell Univ. Press, 1971; Philadelphia, JPS, 1971; London, The Toby Press, 2004
- Chinese: Hefei, Anhui Literature and Art Publishing House, 1998
- Collected Works (four volumes), Hakibbutz Hameuchad, 1978-1985 [Ketavim]
- Out of the Depths or "Out Of A Gloomy Valley", Brenner's first book is a collection of 6 short stories about Jewish life in the diaspora. It was published in Warsaw 1900.
- English: Colorado, Westview Press, 1992
- Around the Point
- Yiddish: Berlin, Yiddisher Literarisher Ferlag, 1923
- In the Winter
- Yiddish: Warsaw, Literarisher Bleter, 1936
External sources
- Brenner's Hebrew works in Project Ben-Yehuda
- Institute for Translation of Hebrew Literature bio
- In praise of Brenner