Abraham Mapu
Abraham Mapu ( born January 10, 1808 in Sloboda, a suburb of Kaunas, † October 9, 1867 in Königsberg ) was a Hebrew writer. He is the creator of the modern Hebrew novel.
Life
As the son of a poor school teacher Abraham Mapu grew up in a poor suburb of the Lithuanian city of Kaunas, where he distinguished himself early as a brilliant student. After his first marriage at the age of 17, he studied at the home of his wealthy father- in Kaunas. An edition of the Psalms with a Latin translation, which he had found in the house of a friend in Kaunas named Elias Ragoler, sparked his interest in the Latin language, which was unknown at that time among Orthodox Jews in Eastern Europe. Despite the opposition of orthodox circles against learning languages , he was also suitable knowledge of French, German and Russian, studied the Bible, Hebrew grammar and modern literature by and was among the Jews in the Russian Empire as a leading representative of the Haskalah.
Mapu was for decades served as home and school teacher and found it difficult to find an income for his family. After his wife died in 1846, he spent several years in Vilna, until he returned to Kaunas and 1851 married a second time. The 1850s were successful both personally and professionally for him. In 1857 he received from the Russian Minister for institutions, Norov, a personal greeting, he replied with a thanks poem as an introduction to his preserved only as a fragment novel Chose Chesionot. After a long illness, his second wife died in 1863. Mapusa last years were marked by loneliness and complicated by a disease of his fingers, which made him the letter to the agony.
His first novel, Ahavat Zion (1853 ), on which he had worked for over 20 years, was a great success. He appeared in 16 editions and was translated into numerous languages. The novelty of Mapusa novels is the combination of biblical style and influences of contemporary French romance, Alexandre Dumas and Eugene Sue.
Above all, his second novel Ajit Zawua ( " the painted vulture ", ie hypocrites ), in which the emphasis is placed on educational and social reforms, the following Hebrew writers, such as Peretz Smolenskin or Mendele Moicher Sforim influenced. Due to the fanatical opposition of the Orthodox Jews against the Haskalah, the Russian censorship forbade the appearance of Chesionot Chose from which finally remained only seven chapters left. His fourth and last novel, Aschmat Shomron, in turn, plays in biblical times and appeared in about ten issues.
In addition to his novels Mapu also published several textbooks on the study of Hebrew and the House Frenchman, a French textbook that has been printed on German with Hebrew letters and appeared in 1859 in Vilnius.
Mapu is regarded as a literary precursor of Zionism.
Works
- Ahavat Zion ( " love of Zion " ), historical novel ( German under the title Tamar )
- Ajit Zawua ( " The Pretender " ), Roman
- Chose Chesionot ( " The Visionary " ), Roman
- Aschmat Shomron ( " The guilt of Samaria " ), historical novel