HURVITZ, Yair 1941-1988

PERSONAL: Born 1941, in Tel Aviv, Israel; died from heart failure 1988, in Tel Aviv, Israel.

CAREER: Poet. Worked as a typesetter and proofreader.

WRITINGS:

Shirim min ha-katseh ha-namukh, Manu shir (Tel Aviv, Israel), 1962.

Shirim le-Lu'is (title means "Poems to Louise"), 'Akshav (Jerusalem, Israel), 1963, reprinted, 1988.

Salviyon, 'Akshav (Jerusalem, Israel), 1966.

Be-'ir she-reki'im lah en u-margo'ah mahseh, Gog (Tel Aviv, Israel), 1968.

'Onat ha-mekhashefah (title means "Season of the Witch"), Daga (Tel Aviv, Israel), 1969.

Yonaikah, 'Eked (Tel Aviv, Israel), 1970.

Narkisim le-malkhut madmenah; shirim, Sifriyat po'alim (Merhavyah, Israel), 1972.

Shirim: 1960/1973 (title means "Poems: 1960-1973"), Mif'alim universita'iyim (Tel Aviv, Israel), 1975.

Be-shivti levadi, Mif'alim universita'iyim (Tel Aviv, Israel), 1976.

Perakim mi-sefer ha-halom: shirim li-vene ha-ne'urim (children's poems), illustrated by Nahum Kohen, ha-Kibuts ha-me'uhad (Tel Aviv, Israel; Jerusalem, Israel), 1978.

Makom, ha-Kibuts ha-me'uhad (Tel Aviv, Israel), 1978.

Anatomiyah shel geshem (title means "Anatomy of Rain"), ha-Kibuts ha-me'uhad (Tel Aviv, Israel), 1980.

Yalkut li-yedidim, Ya'ir Hurvits (Israel), 1980.

Erets behirah: shirim 1961-1981 (title means "Chosen Land: Poems 1961-1981"), ha-Kibuts ha-me'uhad (Tel Aviv, Israel), 1982.

Yehasim u-de'agah: shirim (title means "Anxious Relations: Poems"), ha-Kibuts ha-me'uhad (Tel Aviv, Israel), 1986.

Tsipor kelu'ah (title means "Atrial Flutter"), ha-Kibuts ha-me'uhad (Tel Aviv, Israel), 1987.

(Translator) Ha-Shoshan ha-katan Iavan: entologyah Skotitu (title means "The Little White Rose: An Anthology of Scottish Poetry"), 'Am 'oved (Tel Aviv, Israel), 1988.

Goral ha-gan: kol ha-shirim, ha-Kibuts ha-me'uhad (Tel Aviv, Israel), 1989.

Kol kitve Ya'ir Hurvits, ha-Kibuts ha-me'uhad (Tel Aviv, Israel), 1989.

Authors works included in anthologies of Hebrew poetry, such as After the First Rain: Israeli Poems on War and Peace, Syracuse University Press (Syracuse, NY), 1998.

SIDELIGHTS: Yair Hurvitz lived his entire life in Tel Aviv, Israel, and was known as one of the "Tel-Aviv Poets," a group of Israeli poets who emerged in the 1960s. Other poets in this group included Meir Weiseltier, Ahon Shabtai, and Yona Wallach. Writing in Hebrew, Hurvitz and his fellow avant-garde poets believed the poetry of the 1950s to be repressive and experimented with new poetic forms in an effort to make a break from earlier Hebrew poetic forms. The Tel Aviv Poets, as they became known, conducted readings at universities, hotels, and nightclubs and sometimes would mix readings of English and Hebrew poetry and music. They often sold broadsheets of their poetry at these readings, which were usually well attended. The group often published in the Hebrew literary journals Achsahv and Siman Kriah.

Hurvitz, who made his living as a typesetter and proofreader, became known for his restrained style and the underlying sadness of his poems as he ruminated on mortality. In addition to his several volumes of poetry, Hurvitz's verse can also be found in many Hebrew poetry anthologies. He was also interested in Scottish poetry and in 1988 translated an anthology of poetry from that region. Hurvitz died from heart failure in 1988.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Siman Kriah, Volume 21, 1990, Oppenheimer Yochai, "Interim-situations in the Poetry of Yair Hurvitz," pp. 280-287.

OTHER

Mifgash 'im mishtatfe Siman keri'ah (sound recording of 1976 radio broadcast), Kol Yisra'el (Jerusalem, Israel), 1995.*