Noticias
In the Library of Mexico "José Vasconcelos"
Nobel Prize for Literature, Shmuel Yosef Agnon is honored with an exhibition
March 03, 2017The figure of the Israeli writer Shmuel Yosef Agnon, Nobel Prize of Literature 1966, is celebrated through the exhibition Shmuel Yosef Agnon. The writer and his legend, in the Library of Mexico "Jose Vasconcelos".
The exhibition is presented as part of the 65th anniversary of the establishment of bilateral relations between Mexico and Israel, and it is an invitation to take a look to the life and work of the most important Hebrew writer of the twentieth century.
The information provided is based on the writings of Baruch Kurtzweil, Dan Laor, Ariel Hirschfeld and Emanu Yarón. Thus, visitors can know the novelist and storyteller’s first years, as well as his arrival in Palestine, attracted by the Zionist ideal.
The exhibition continues for his eleven-year stay in Germany, his marriage to Esther Marx, and his settlement in Jerusalem, whose sacred sites, monuments and vestiges of antiquity made him miss his hometown Buczacz, which was a vital source of inspiration for his writing.
Israel's ambassador to Mexico, Jonathan Peled, explained in the opening at the lobby of the Foro Polivalente Antonieta Rivas Mercado that in addition to showcase information about the first Nobel Prize for Literature Israeli winner, the exhibition refers to contemporary writers as Etgar Keret, Savyon Liebrecht, David Grossman, Amos Oz and Aharon Appelfeld.
"The Jewish people are the people of the book. Israel is a small country with a great cultural work that develops a large literary activity. It is a melting pot of more than 70 ethnic Jewish peoples who have come to Israel after their independence in 1948, which today form a multicultural, ethnic and diverse society”.
He added that Israeli literature reflects its large, multiethnic and plural culture and celebrated the fact that every year more Israeli writers visit Mexico and their books are translated into Spanish.
Tal Naim, an aggregate of Culture, Press and Public Diplomacy at the Israeli Embassy in Mexico, explained that Shmuel Yosef Agnon (Buczacz, Ukraine, 1888 - Israel, Jerusalem, 1970), gave the Hebrew a new sense. "In his Hebrew he combined the old and the new, and that is one of the reasons why he won the Nobel Prize."
He said that Hebrew is currently used by ten million people around the world. He described it as a great history language that had a renewal 69 years ago when the country of Israel was born.
The exhibition was organized by the Casa Agnón and the Department of Foreign Affairs of the State of Israel. It has been exhibited in different countries of the world on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Nobel Prize for Literature awarded to the renowned writer whose unique style has profoundly influenced the Hebrew culture and shaped its literature.
Shmuel Yosef Agnon’s work is made up of over a thousand novels and short stories, much of which have been translated into about 40 languages. His works deal with the permanent conflict between traditional Jewish life and the modern world of his time and is nourished by the strata of Hebrew literature in all its generations.
The exhibition Shmuel Yosef Agnon. The writer and his legend, will be on view until Sunday, March 26th.
Icons of Israeli Literature
In the framework of the exhibition there will also be held lectures, readings aloud for children and general public, and a film series, from March 3rd to 26th 2017.
The film series will feature movies based on Israeli literature. It will begin with the projection of documentaries made by Jose Gordon on the writers Etgar Keret, David Grossman, Amos Oz, and Aharon Appelfeld.
The movies will be: Amoz Oz, The Nature of Dreams (2009), Someone to run with (2006), The Summer of Avia (1988), Kafka’s Last Story (2011), Life and Love (1997) Sallah Shabati (1964), and Aravim Rokdim (2014).
Dr. Linda Marcos Shabot will give the Shmuel Yosef Agnon lectures on Thursday, March 9th, and Icons of Israeli literature, on Thursday, March 16th, both at 6:00 p.m.
For more information and schedules, please visit: http://www.bibliotecademexexico.gob.mx/.
The Library of Mexico "José Vasconcelos" is located in Plaza de la Ciudadela No.4, colonia Centro. Free entry.
Mexico,Distrito Federal
