Tuvya Ruebner facts for kids

Tuvya Ruebner

Tuvya Ruebner (born January 30, 1924 – died July 29, 2019) was an important Israeli poet. He wrote poems in both Hebrew and German. He also translated poems between these languages. Besides being a poet, he edited many books, was a scholar, a teacher, and a photographer.

Ruebner was a professor at Haifa University and Oranim College. He won many awards for his writing in Israel, Germany, and Austria. In 2008, he received the Israel Prize for Poetry. This is the highest award given in Israel. The judges called him "among the most important Hebrew poets." They said his poetry was "calm, well-made, and smart." It was inspired by old Hebrew poems and the best European poetry.

Tuvya Ruebner's Life Story
His Journey as a Writer
What Critics Said About His Work
Books by Tuvya Ruebner
Awards and Honors
- In Israel
- Overseas Awards
See Also

Tuvya Ruebner's Life Story

Tuvya Ruebner was born Kurt Tobias Ruebner in Pressburg. This city is now called Bratislava in Slovakia. His parents were Jewish and spoke German. He went to school there until 1939. At that time, Slovakia became controlled by Nazi Germany. Jewish students were not allowed in schools anymore.

So, Ruebner left school at age 15. His formal education ended in the ninth grade. In 1941, he got special papers to leave Slovakia. He traveled to Palestine with a group of young people. He had to leave his parents and sister behind. He settled in Kibbutz Merchavia in northern Israel. He lived there for the rest of his life. Sadly, his parents, sister, and other family members died in the Holocaust in 1942.

In 1944, Ruebner married Ada Klein, who was also from Slovakia. They had a daughter together. In 1950, Ada died in a car accident. Ruebner was also badly hurt. Because he could not do farm work, he became the kibbutz librarian. Later, he met Galila Yisraeli, a pianist born in Israel. They married in 1953 and had two sons. In 1983, their youngest son, Moran, disappeared during a trip to Ecuador. He was never found.

From 1963 to 1966, Ruebner's family lived in Switzerland. He worked there for a Jewish organization. When he returned in 1966, Ruebner started teaching. He taught at Oranim College, Tel Aviv University, and Haifa University. In 1974, he became a professor of German and Comparative Literature. He retired from Haifa University in 1993. Tuvya Ruebner passed away in 2019 at the age of 95.

His Journey as a Writer

Tuvya Ruebner started writing poems when he was a teenager. He kept writing in German, his first language, during his early years in the kibbutz. There, he met important thinkers like Werner Kraft and Ludwig Strauss. They helped him a lot. He also met the Israeli poet Leah Goldberg. She encouraged him to write in Hebrew and became a close friend and guide. She even helped publish his first Hebrew poem in the Davar newspaper in 1950.

Ruebner's first book of Hebrew poetry came out in 1957. His first German poetry book was published in 1990. He had already won the Anne Frank Prize for poetry in 1955. Many other awards followed, like the Theodore Kramer Prize in Austria. All these led to him winning the Israel Prize for Poetry in 2008.

Ruebner was also a skilled translator. He translated works by famous writers like Goethe and Friedrich Schlegel into Hebrew. He also translated works by Israeli writers like Shmuel Yosef Agnon into German. He also edited many books, including Leah Goldberg's poetry collections. Ruebner continued to be involved in literature, especially publishing poetry books, until the end of his life.

Much of Ruebner's poetry talks about loss. This includes the loss of his family in the Holocaust. It also covers the deaths of his first wife and the disappearance of his son. Rachel Tzvia Back, who translated his poems into English, says his poetry shows the "brokenness" of his life. She explains that his writing style reflects building a new life while remembering the past.

Israeli editor Israel Pinkas wrote that "Tuvia Ruebner holds a special and valued place" in modern Hebrew poetry. He added that Ruebner's poetry brings "new energy and clarity, artistry and sophistication."

What Critics Said About His Work

The judges who gave Tuvya Ruebner the Israel Prize in 2008 noted that his work was popular not just in Israel. People in Germany, the USA, Slovakia, and Sweden also showed interest.

Literary critic Shahar Bram wrote that Ruebner's poetry often responds to visual art. This is a technique called ekphrasis. Bram explained that Ruebner saw words and images as "sister arts." Fellow poet Rafi Weichert said Ruebner's poetry explores living with difficult feelings. He wrote that Ruebner's work was his way of "keeping his balance upon the abyss, the abyss of his biography."

Rachel Tzvia Back, who translated his poems, described many unique parts of Ruebner's writing. Lisa Katz and Shahar Bram also showed how different cultures influenced his work. Rachel Tzvia Back's later book of translations gave a full overview of Ruebner's long writing career. She worked with him on these translations until shortly before he died. She wrote that Ruebner's later poems "wonder at the breadth given, at the day offered, and at the wonder of a word speaking from the page."

The Israel Prize judges concluded about Ruebner: "In his poetry, he struggles in a personal and unique way with the individual’s suffering of loss, with the Holocaust of the Jews, and the difficulties of an immigrant who has two homelands." They added that his poetry was "captivating, continuously renewing itself." They said it showed great strength and energy over more than fifty years.

Books by Tuvya Ruebner

Many of Ruebner’s Hebrew poems first appeared in literary sections of Israeli newspapers. Here are some of his published poetry books:

Poetry Books in Hebrew

The Fire in the Stone. 1957.
Poems Seeking Time. 1961.
As Long As. 1967.
Poems by Tuvia Ruebner. 1970.
Unreturnable. 1971.
Midnight Sun. 1977.
A Graven and a Molten Image. 1982.
And Hasteneth to His Place. 1990.
Latter Days Poems. 1999.
Almost a Conversation. 2002.
Nasty Children’s Rhymes and Others. 2004.
Traces of Days: New & Selected Poems, 1957-2005. 2005.
Everything After It. 2007.
Belated Beauty. 2009.
Contradictory Poems. 2011.
Last Ones: 2011-2012. 2013.
The Cross-Road. 2015.
Still Before. 2017.
From here To: Selected Poems. 2018.
Seventeen. 2018.
More No More. 2019.

Poetry Books in German

Ruebner wrote poems in German, his native language, even after moving to Palestine. Although he wrote them first, they were published later than his Hebrew poems. Here are some of his German poetry books:

Selected Poems. 1990.
Wuestenginster. 1990.
Granatapfel. 1995.
Rauchvöegel 1957-1997, Vol. 1. 1998.
Stein will fliesse. 1999.
Zypressenlicht 1957-1999, Vol. 2. 2000.
Wer hält diese Eile aus. 2007.
Spaetes Lob der Schoenheit. 2010.
Lichtschatten. 2011.
In Vorbereitung: Wunderbarer Whan. 2013.
Im halben Lich (2016). 2016.

Autobiography

Ein langes kurzes Leben; Von Preßburg nach Merchavia. 2004. (in German) ISBN: 978-3890866642
A Short Long Life. 2006. (in Hebrew) ISBN: 965-7089-82-4

Photography Books

Everything that Came After; Poems and photographs. 2007.
That Too My Eyes Have Seen. 2007.

Translations by Ruebner

Ruebner translated a lot of poetry between Hebrew and German. He notably translated stories by Nobel Prize winner J.S. Agnon from Hebrew to German. The Israel Prize judges said his German translations helped Israeli readers. They also noted his translations into German, especially Agnon's work, helped spread Israeli literature worldwide.

Ruebner’s Poetry in English Translation

Individual English translations of Ruebner’s Hebrew poems appeared as early as 1974. However, full books of his translated poetry are more recent. Rachel Tzvia Back’s 2014 book is the most complete. All three books listed below were published in the 21st century:

Now at the Threshold: The Later Poems of Tuvia Ruebner. Translated by Rachel Tzvia Back. 2020. (Bilingual edition) ISBN: 978-0-87820-186-0
Late Beauty: Tuvia Ruebner. Translated by Lisa Katz and Shahar Bram. 2017. ISBN: 978-1-938890-11-6
In the Illuminated Dark: Selected Poems of Tuvia Ruebner. Translated by Rachel Tzvia Back. 2014. (Bilingual edition) ISBN: 978-0-8782-0255-3

Performed Works

CDs of Ruebner reading his own poems were included with some of his books:

Almost a Conversation. 2002.
Cross-Road. 2015.
Still Before. 2017.

Poems set to music by Moni Amerilio, performed by various artists:

A Green Sun Again. 2007.

Awards and Honors

In Israel

1957: Anne Frank prize for poetry
1966: ACUM Award for Poetry
1975: Israel Prime Minister Award for Creative Writing
2007: Jerusalem Prize for Poetry
2008: Israel Prize for Poetry

Overseas Awards

1981: Steinberg Preis (Switzerland)
1987: Became a member of the German Academy of Language and Poetry (Darmstadt) and the Mainz Academy of Science and Literature.
1994: Christian Wagner Prize (Germany)
1999: Jeannette Schocken Prize (Germany)
1999: Paul Celan Translation Prize (Germany)
2002: Jan Smrek Prize (Slovakia)
2008: Theodor Kramer Prize (Austria)
2012: Konrad Adenauer Stiftung Prize (Germany)