Israel in Translation

Israel's children have gone back to school, so this podcast is dedicated to the wonder of summer vacations. Host Marcela Sulak reads the opening of Judith Katzier’s short story, Schlafstunde, translated by Barbara Harshav. It starts like this:

"Once, when summer vacation stretched over the whole summer and tasted of sand and smelled of grapes and a redhead sun daubed freckles on your face..."

Each sentence in Katzier's story is roughly the length of a paragraph and features little punctuation, capturing the endlessness of the summer and the breathless excitement of the children enjoying their adventures.

Text:Schlafstunde, by Judith Katzir, translated by Barbara Harshav, in 50 Stories from Israel. Ed. Zisi Stavi & Chaya Galai. Yedioth Ahronoth and Chemed Books. 2007.

Music:HaKeves HaShisha Asar - Hayalda Hachi Yafa BaganHaKeves HaShisha Asar - Ani Ohev

Israel's children have gone back to school, so this podcast is dedicated to the wonder of summer vacations. Host Marcela Sulak reads the opening of Judith Katzier’s short story, Schlafstunde, translated by Barbara Harshav. It starts like this:

"Once, when summer vacation stretched over the whole summer and tasted of sand and smelled of grapes and a redhead sun daubed freckles on your face..."

Each sentence in Katzier's story is roughly the length of a paragraph and features little punctuation, capturing the endlessness of the summer and the breathless excitement of the children enjoying their adventures.

Text:
Schlafstunde, by Judith Katzir, translated by Barbara Harshav, in 50 Stories from Israel. Ed. Zisi Stavi & Chaya Galai. Yedioth Ahronoth and Chemed Books. 2007.

Music:
HaKeves HaShisha Asar - Hayalda Hachi Yafa Bagan
HaKeves HaShisha Asar - Ani Ohev

This week host Marcela Sulak features a graphic novel for the first time ever on this podcast - Rutu Modan’s The Property, translated by Jessica Cohen.

It's about an Israeli grandmother and her granddaughter getting to know Warsaw as they try to reclaim a property lost during WWII.

Marcela, with the help of her crew, reads the book's opening scene, set at Ben-Gurion airport, and a later scene in which Mica, the granddaughter, gets to show off her martial arts skills.

Rutu Modan was born in Tel Aviv in 1966, and graduated from the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem. Critics have called The Property “a triumph of storytelling and fine lines," saying it "cements Modan's status as one of the foremost cartoonists working today."

Text:The Property, translated by Jessica Cohen. Drawn and Quarterly, 2013.

Further Reading:Exit Wounds, Drawn and Quarterly, 2007Mixed Emotions, 2007, a visual blog at the New York TimesThe Murder of the Terminal Patient, a graphic serial in the New York Times Magazine, 2008Jamilti and Other Stories, Drawn and Quarterly, 2008Where Is?, written by Tamar Bergman, Houghton Mifflin/Walter Lorraine Books 2002 (children’s book)Dad Runs Away With The Circus, written by Etgar Keret, Cambridge, MA, Candlewick Press, 2004 (children’s book)Maya Makes a Mess, written and drawn by Rutu Modan, Toon Books, 2012

Music:Nigel Kennedy & Kroke - KazimierzWalter Wanderley - Beach SambaKapela Harnasie - Lipka Zielona

This week host Marcela Sulak features a graphic novel for the first time ever on this podcast - Rutu Modan’s The Property, translated by Jessica Cohen.

It's about an Israeli grandmother and her granddaughter getting to know Warsaw as they try to reclaim a property lost during WWII.

Marcela, with the help of her crew, reads the book's opening scene, set at Ben-Gurion airport, and a later scene in which Mica, the granddaughter, gets to show off her martial arts skills.

Rutu Modan was born in Tel Aviv in 1966, and graduated from the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem. Critics have called The Property “a triumph of storytelling and fine lines," saying it "cements Modan's status as one of the foremost cartoonists working today."

Text:
The Property, translated by Jessica Cohen. Drawn and Quarterly, 2013.

Further Reading:
Exit Wounds, Drawn and Quarterly, 2007
Mixed Emotions, 2007, a visual blog at the New York Times
The Murder of the Terminal Patient, a graphic serial in the New York Times Magazine, 2008
Jamilti and Other Stories, Drawn and Quarterly, 2008
Where Is?, written by Tamar Bergman, Houghton Mifflin/Walter Lorraine Books 2002 (children’s book)
Dad Runs Away With The Circus, written by Etgar Keret, Cambridge, MA, Candlewick Press, 2004 (children’s book)
Maya Makes a Mess, written and drawn by Rutu Modan, Toon Books, 2012

Music:
Nigel Kennedy & Kroke - Kazimierz
Walter Wanderley - Beach Samba
Kapela Harnasie - Lipka Zielona

"Seconds before bursting into flames the boy sent out a crythat his father, hanging farther down in perfect balancecould not make out:thismustbehowyoufeelwheninventing!He cried out, joyful,And fell."

So ends Yael Globerman's poem "Icarus," translated by Lisa Katz and the author. Host Marcela Sulak reads this and Globerman's follow-up poem, "The Desk," translated by Vivian Eden.

Poet and translator Yael Globerman was born in Tel Aviv and studied film at Tel Aviv University. Elements of film and theater find their way into Globerman's poetry, as we hear in this podcast. Globerman has written a novel and two books of poetry, and currently teaches creative writing at Oranim College and the Minshar Academy for Art.

Text:Poetry International Rotterdam

Further Reading:EurozineVirginia Quarterly

Music:Maya Yitzhaki - HaNesicha Bulimia (Words by Yael Globerman)Shualei HaMachshava - HaNivchar (Words by Yael Globerman)Tsevet Bidur Cheil HaAvir (Air Force group) - The Ballad of Daedalus and Icarus

"Seconds before bursting into flames the boy sent out a cry
that his father, hanging farther down in perfect balance
could not make out:
thismustbehowyoufeelwheninventing!
He cried out, joyful,
And fell."

So ends Yael Globerman's poem "Icarus," translated by Lisa Katz and the author. Host Marcela Sulak reads this and Globerman's follow-up poem, "The Desk," translated by Vivian Eden.

Poet and translator Yael Globerman was born in Tel Aviv and studied film at Tel Aviv University. Elements of film and theater find their way into Globerman's poetry, as we hear in this podcast. Globerman has written a novel and two books of poetry, and currently teaches creative writing at Oranim College and the Minshar Academy for Art.

Text:
Poetry International Rotterdam

Further Reading:
Eurozine
Virginia Quarterly

Music:
Maya Yitzhaki - HaNesicha Bulimia (Words by Yael Globerman)
Shualei HaMachshava - HaNivchar (Words by Yael Globerman)
Tsevet Bidur Cheil HaAvir (Air Force group) - The Ballad of Daedalus and Icarus

Today host Marcela Sulak reads an extract from Asaf Schurr's novel Motti, translated by Todd Hasak-Lowy. In it, Motti imagines the precise details of the death of Laika, a Soviet dog who became the first animal to orbit the earth.

"Did she bark? I have to know if she barked. And how the echo sounded in that narrow space. If it sounded like distant dogs answering her."

Schurr was born in Jerusalem in 1976. He has worked on the editorial staff of the magazine Kahn for human and animal rights and environmental issues, and was awarded the Prime Minister's Prize for Motti (2008).

Text: Motti. Translated by Todd Hasak-Lowy. Dalkey Archive Press (May 3, 2011).

Music: 2001: A Space Odyssey 1968 - Movie Soundtrack (music by Richard Strauss, Johann Strauss & Gyorgy Ligeti)

Today host Marcela Sulak reads an extract from Asaf Schurr's novel Motti, translated by Todd Hasak-Lowy. In it, Motti imagines the precise details of the death of Laika, a Soviet dog who became the first animal to orbit the earth.

"Did she bark? I have to know if she barked. And how the echo sounded in that narrow space. If it sounded like distant dogs answering her."

Schurr was born in Jerusalem in 1976. He has worked on the editorial staff of the magazine Kahn for human and animal rights and environmental issues, and was awarded the Prime Minister's Prize for Motti (2008).

Text:
Motti. Translated by Todd Hasak-Lowy. Dalkey Archive Press (May 3, 2011).

Music:
2001: A Space Odyssey 1968 - Movie Soundtrack (music by Richard Strauss, Johann Strauss & Gyorgy Ligeti)

Host Marcela Sulak today reads from A. B. Yehoshua's novel A Journey to the End of the Millennium. Set in the year 999. It follows a Jewish merchant from Tangiers on his annual voyage to Europe to secure and expand his trade:

"And so in these twilight days, as faiths were sharpened in the join between one millennium and the next, it was preferable to restrict encounters with adherents of another faith and to be content, at least for the greater part of the way, to travel by sea, for the sea, which can reveal itself at times to be capricious and cruel, owes no obligation to what is beyond its reach."

Avraham Yehoshua was born in 1936 into a fifth generation Jerusalem family of Sephardic origin. The New York Times calls him “The Israeli Faulkner.”

Text:A Journey to the End of the Millennium - A Novel of the Middle Ages. By A. B. Yehoshua. Translated by Nicholas de Lange. A Harvest Book. Harcourt, Inc., 1998.

Further reading by A. B. Yehoshua:The Lover. Garden City N.Y., Doubleday, 1978 (translated by Philip Simpson). Dutton, 1985. Harvest/HBJ, 1993.A Late Divorce. London, Harvill Press, 1984. San Diego, Harcourt Brace, 1993.Five Seasons. New York, Doubleday, 1989.Mr. Mani. New York, Doubleday, 1992.Open Heart. Garden City N.Y., Doubleday, 1995.The Liberated Bride. London, Peter Halban, 2003.A Woman in Jerusalem. London, Halban Publishers, 2006, 2011.Friendly Fire: A Duet. London, Halban Publishers, 2008.The Retrospective. New York, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013.

Music:Los Tiempos Pasados - Una Matica De RudaLa Roza Enflorese - La Roza Enflorese

Host Marcela Sulak today reads from A. B. Yehoshua's novel A Journey to the End of the Millennium. Set in the year 999. It follows a Jewish merchant from Tangiers on his annual voyage to Europe to secure and expand his trade:

"And so in these twilight days, as faiths were sharpened in the join between one millennium and the next, it was preferable to restrict encounters with adherents of another faith and to be content, at least for the greater part of the way, to travel by sea, for the sea, which can reveal itself at times to be capricious and cruel, owes no obligation to what is beyond its reach."

Avraham Yehoshua was born in 1936 into a fifth generation Jerusalem family of Sephardic origin. The New York Times calls him “The Israeli Faulkner.”

Text:
A Journey to the End of the Millennium - A Novel of the Middle Ages. By A. B. Yehoshua. Translated by Nicholas de Lange. A Harvest Book. Harcourt, Inc., 1998.

Further reading by A. B. Yehoshua:
The Lover. Garden City N.Y., Doubleday, 1978 (translated by Philip Simpson). Dutton, 1985. Harvest/HBJ, 1993.
A Late Divorce. London, Harvill Press, 1984. San Diego, Harcourt Brace, 1993.
Five Seasons. New York, Doubleday, 1989.
Mr. Mani. New York, Doubleday, 1992.
Open Heart. Garden City N.Y., Doubleday, 1995.
The Liberated Bride. London, Peter Halban, 2003.
A Woman in Jerusalem. London, Halban Publishers, 2006, 2011.
Friendly Fire: A Duet. London, Halban Publishers, 2008.
The Retrospective. New York, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013.

Music:
Los Tiempos Pasados - Una Matica De Ruda
La Roza Enflorese - La Roza Enflorese