Edmond Jabès

Edmond Jabès (Cairo, 1912 – Paris, January 2, 1991) was a Jewish writer and poet, and one of the best known literary figures to write in French after World War II.

Life

The son of a Jewish Italian family, he was raised in Egypt, where he received a classical French colonial education. He began publishing in French at an early age, and was made a Knight of the Legion of Honor in 1952 for his literary accomplishments.

When Egypt expelled its Jewish population in 1956 (Suez Crisis), Jabès fled to Paris, which he had first visited in the 1930s. There he rekindled friendships with the surrealists although he was never formally a member of that group. He became a French citizen in 1967, the same year that he received the honor of being one of four French writers (alongside Sartre, Camus, and Levi-Strauss) to present his works at the World Exposition in Montreal. Further accolades followed -- the "Prix des Critiques" in 1972 and a commission as an officer in the Legion of Honor in 1986. In 1987, he received France's National Guard Prize for Poetry (Grand Prix national de la poésie). Jabès's cremation ceremony took place a few days after his death – at age 78 – at the cemetery of Père Lachaise.

Works

Jabès is best remembered for his books of poetry, often published in multi-volume cycles, at least fourteen volumes translated by Rosmarie Waldrop – Jabès's primary English translator. They often featured references to Jewish mysticism and kabbalah.

Family

Many of his family members still remain living in areas including Washington, D.C.; New York, NY; and locations all over the world. However, hardly any living family members still hold the Jabes family name.

elected bibliography

In English (Trans. Rosmarie Waldrop):

*The Book of Questions, Wesleyan University Press, 1976-1984:I. "The Book of Questions", 1976:II / III. "The Book of Yukel" / "Return to the Book", 1977:IV / V / VI. "Yaël", "Elya", "Aely", 1983:VII. "El, or the Last Book", 1984

*"The Book of Dialogue", Wesleyan University Press, 1987
*"The Book of Shares", Chicago UP, 1989

*The Book of Resemblances, Wesleyan University Press, 1990:I. "The Book of Resemblances", 1990:II. "Intimations The Desert", 1991:III. "The Ineffaceable The Unperceived", 1992

*"From the Book to the Book" [A Jabès Reader] , Wesleyan UP, 1991
*"A Foreigner Carrying in the Crook of His Arm a Tiny Book", Wesleyan UP, 1993
*"The Book of Margins", Chicago UP, 1993
*"The Little Book of Unsuspected Subversion", Stanford University Press, 1996
*"Desire for a Beginning Dread of One Single End", Granary Books, 2001

In English (By other translators):

*"A Share of Ink", [Selected Short Poems] trans. Anthony Rudolf, Menard Press, 1979
*"If There Were Anywhere But Desert"; Selected Poems, trans. Keith Waldrop; "Introduction" by Paul Auster, "Afterword" by Robert Duncan, Station Hill Press, 1988
*"From the Desert to the Book: Dialogues" with Marcel Cohen, trans. Pierre Joris, Station Hill, 1990

elected works on Jabès (In English):

*Paul Auster, "Interview with Edmond Jabès," Montemora, #6 (1979), reprinted in "The Sin of the Book"
*—, "Book of the Dead," (1976), essay, published in "The Art of Hunger"
*Jacques Derrida, "Edmond Jabès and the Question of the Book", essay, published in "Writing and Difference", Routledge, 2002
*Eric Gould, ed., "The Sin of the Book: Edmond Jabès", University of Nebraska Press, 1985
*—, "Studies in 20th Century Literature, 12, No.1: Edmond Jabès Issue" (Fall 1987)
*Warren Motte Jr., "Questioning Edmond Jabès", University of Nebraska Press, 1990
*Rosmarie Waldrop, "Lavish Absence: Recalling and Rereading Edmond Jabès", Wesleyan University Press, 2002
*Jason Weiss, "Writing at Risk: Interviews in Paris with Uncommon Writers", University of Iowa Press, 1991
* Mark Rudman, "Questions about Questions," "Diverse Voices," Story Line Press, 1992.

External links

* [http://www.writing.upenn.edu/pepc/authors/jabes/ EPC Jabès Homepage] @ the Electronic Poetry Center