Avraham Ibn Ezra (c. 1093 – c. 1167)
With the departure of Yehuda HaLevi for the Land of Israel and, several years later, the first wave of invasions by the North African Almohads, the Golden Age of… More
Shelomo Ibn Gabirol (1021/22 – c. 1057/58)
Philosopher, misanthrope, and spectacular fly in the ointment of the refined eleventh-century Andalusian-Jewish elite, Shelomo Ibn Gabirol, the second major poet of the period, comes down to us as… More
Shmu’el Hanagid (993 – 1056)
The major poets of the period emerge in the third generation, and they are masters of their art in every respect and giants in the history of Hebrew literature.… More
Todros Abulafia (1247 – after 1300)
A distant relative of Meir HaLevi Abulafia, but no relation to Avraham, Todros Ben Yehuda Abulafia was born in Toledo in 1247 and spent most of his life in… More
Moshe Ibn Ezra (c. 1055 — after 1138)
Balance, calm employment of ornament, clarity of presentation as well as emotion—these are the traits that characterize the poetry of the third major poet of the period, Moshe Ibn… More
Greeting, Slippage, and Shaping
As someone specifically interested in the translation of poetry, of the free verse variety, I will come down squarely on the side of occasional long shots, slippages into the… More
International PEN Report on Translation and Globalization
In Act I, scene iii of Richard II, the Duke of Norfolk is banished from England—sent into exile “never to return.” Curiously, his first thought on hearing this harsh… More
Through Western Eyes
Mishima was a very strange Japanese. His ritual suicide, his final call to cast off Western influences and return to traditional Japanese values, including veneration of the emperor, has… More
Romantic Realism
That dinner party is etched in my memory for many reasons: the discussion during soup of the American embargo on Cuba; the recital during entrées by Bill Styron,… More
Beauty’s Kamikaze
Just before noon, he stepped out on the balcony and delivered a short speech, appealing to the soldiers to join him and his men in death as true men… More
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