Shmuel Yosef Agnon

Who is Shmuel Yosef Agnon?

Born Shmuel Yosef Czaczkes in Buczacz, in Galicia under Austria-Hungary, Agnon became the central figure of modern Hebrew fiction. He first settled in Ottoman Palestine in 1908, spent years in Germany, and returned permanently to Jerusalem in 1924. Writing in a rich, allusive Hebrew steeped in traditional Jewish sources, he blended the world of Eastern European Jewry with the emerging life of the Land of Israel. His major works include the novels 'The Bridal Canopy', 'A Guest for the Night', and 'Only Yesterday' (Tmol Shilshom), along with numerous short stories and folk-inspired tales. In 1966 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, shared with the poet Nelly Sachs, becoming the only Hebrew-language writer to receive the honor.

Sources: S.Y. Agnon, 'Only Yesterday' (Tmol Shilshom, 1945; English translation 2000) · Nobel Prize in Literature 1966, nobelprize.org