Abraham B. Yehoshua, one of Israel’s most widely read authors, is the author of novels such as “Mr. Mani” and “Journey to the End of the Millennium,” works that are strongly entrenched in Jewish culture and the Israeli way of life. He is truly one of the best writers to have been born in Israel, combining elements of history, politics, and literature to generate works that readers all over the world relate with. He is well known for his storytelling style, which, with its easy flow and imagery, catches the reader’s imagination. His writing style, which is defined by a certain innocence and simplicity, encourages readers to investigate human life and emotions, as well as look for deeper meanings in everyday activities. Because most of his works have multiple characters, the tales are frequently overlapping and incomplete, enabling readers to speculate and come to their own conclusions. His patriotism is apparent in his writings, as he is devoted to his country and Jewish ancestry. He frequently writes on his disappointment with government leaders, since he is deeply troubled by Israel’s endemic corruption and political turmoil. His works have been translated into 28 languages, and he is well-known not just in his native nation but also around the world.
Childhood and Adolescence
He was born on December 19, 1936, into a Jerusalem family of sixth generation. Yaakov Yehoshua, his father, was a scholar and historian who also produced works about Israel’s Sephardic community, from which the family descended. Malka Rosilio, his mother, was the daughter of a prosperous Moroccan businessman who settled in Jerusalem in the 1930s. He only has one sibling. From 1954 to 1957, Yehoshua was a paratrooper in the Israeli army.
He studied literature and philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem during his official education.
Career of A. B. Yehoshua
In 1957–58, he began writing and in 1962, he released his first collection of short stories, ‘The Death of the Old Man.’ He quickly gained a following and was labeled as part of the “new wave” of Israeli writers whose works were markedly different from those of previous generations. As a “new wave” writer, he emphasized the individual and interpersonal over the collective. He was influenced by writers such as Franz Kafka, William Faulkner, and Shmuel Yosef Agnon from an early age.
He began his career as a teacher in Jerusalem before relocating to Paris in 1963. He continued to teach and served as the General Secretary of the World Union of Jewish Students while he was there. He spent four years in Paris before returning to Israel in 1967. During the Six Day War, he was a paratrooper. He began teaching Comparative and Hebrew Literature at the University of Haifa in 1972, eventually rising to the rank of full professor. In 1975, he was appointed as a writer-in-residence at St. Cross College, Oxford, and has since served as a visiting lecturer at Harvard and the University of Chicago.
In 1977, he published his first novel, ‘The Lover.’ The story was set in the aftermath of the Yom Kippur War and was composed of five accounts of a single storyline. It tells the story of a man who is on the lookout for his wife’s boyfriend. In ‘The Lover,’ he developed a character named Naim, a young Arab child, making him one of the first Israeli writers to include Arabs as prominent characters.
Mr. Mani, one of his most well-known novels, was published in 1990. The story is told in the style of five family talks and spans six generations of a Jewish family. The work, which spanned 200 years and spanned Poland and Greece to Palestine and Israel, was regarded as a masterpiece. He released the novel ‘The Late Divorce’ in 1993, which tells the story of an aging couple who announces their divorce to their startled family. The characters’ ruthless honesty, as well as the social standards they question, were praised in this story.
‘A Journey to the End of the Millennium – A Novel of the Middle Ages,’ ‘A Woman in Jerusalem,’ ‘Friendly Fire: A Duet,’ and ‘The Liberated Bride’ are some of his other well-known works. Many of his works have been adapted for film, television, theater, and opera and have been translated into various languages.
Major Projects of A. B. Yehoshua
Mr. Mani, a fascinating story of six generations of the Manis, a Jewish family living in the Middle East, is possibly his best-known novel. The book is wonderfully nuanced and delves into the different tragedies that have plagued the Manis over the years.
Achievements & Awards
He received the Israel Prize for Hebrew Literature in 1995, which is widely regarded as the state’s greatest honor.
In 2006, his novel ‘A Woman in Jerusalem’ won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. The Giovanni Boccaccio Prize and the Viareggio Prize for Lifetime Achievement were given to him in Italy. Yehoshua was awarded the Prix Médicis étranger in November 2012 for his novel “The Retrospective.”
Personal History and Legacy
Rivka, a clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst, was his wife in 1960. He attributes his deep psychological perceptiveness to his wife, a feature that allows him to develop fictitious characters with complex personalities.
He is the proud father of three children: a daughter, two sons, and six grandchildren.
Estimated Net Worth
The estimated net of A. B. Yehoshua is $1.5 Million.