Buy this book on-line

Mapu, Abraham : AHAVAT TSIYON

Varshah: Ahisefer; Ha-Mimkar Etsel Hevrat Tsentral, 1928

Hardcover, 12mo, 155 pages, 20 cm. In Hebrew. Series: Kitve Avraham Mapu; 1. SUBJECT (S) : Hebrew fiction. Other Titles: Title on title page verso: Ahawat Zion. Mapu (1808-1867) was the “creator of the modern Hebrew novel. One of the principal exponents of the Haskalah movement in Eastern Europe, he is best known for his first and most successful novel Ahavat ? Iyyon, which represents a turning point in the development of modern Hebrew literature. The son of an indigent and scholarly teacher, Mapu was born in Slobodka, a poverty-stricken suburb of Kovno, where he early acquired a reputation as a brilliant student, and, having mastered much of the talmudic learning of the day, he was considered fit for independent study at the age of 12. Following his marriage at 17, Mapu continued his studies in the home of his wealthy father-in-law in Kovno. After a brief flirtation with Hasidism, he resumed an interest in Kabbalah and mysticism, previously fostered by his father. This occasioned a period of close contact with Elijah Ragoler. The chance finding of a copy of the Psalms with a Latin translation in Ragoler’s home aroused his interest and he taught himself Latin, virtually an unknown study among pious Jews in Eastern Europe. Eventually he acquired a fair proficiency in French, German, and Russian, in spite of the prevailing hostility in Orthodox Jewish circles to the learning of languages. These studies plus an interest in such equally neglected subjects as Bible, Hebrew grammar, and modern literature laid the foundations of his subsequent achievements. Throughout his life Mapu struggled to maintain his family. He became a teacher of young children and was invited in 1832 to tutor the children of a wealthy merchant in the nearby town of Georgenberg. While separated from his family for two or three years, he was drawn to the Haskalah movement, and, on his return to Kovno, he began to disseminate its doctrines among the local youth. In 1837 Mapu moved his family to Rossyieny, where he taught for about seven years. In spite of his economic hardship, Mapu found the cultural atmosphere of Rossyieny attractive. There his friendship with Senior Sachs engendered a profound interest in the history of ancient Israel. In an attempt to improve his finances Mapu returned to Kovno in 1844. His wife died in 1846, and the following year he moved to Vilna to tutor the son of the wealthy but unlettered Judah Opatov. Despite Vilna’s reputation as a great center of Haskalah, Mapu found the city no more congenial than the house of his harsh employer. On learning of Mapu’s appointment to teach at a government school in Kovno in 1848, Opatov assaulted him physically. Mapu, deeply humiliated, fled the house. He avenged the insult by modeling the character of the boorish upstart, Ga’al, in his novel Ayit Zavu’a on his former employer. From the Hebrew writers of Vilna, however, Mapu acquired the taste for Romanticism which permeates his novels” (Patterson in EJ, 2007) . OCLC lists 14 copies worldwide. 2 inscriptions in Hebrew. Hinge repair. Wear to cover edges and corners. Yellowing to edges of pages. Otherwise, good condition. (Hasid-6-11)

Bibliophile Bookbase for antiquarian books, maps and prints.