Du russe à l’hébreu : une création en version originale ?

Abstract

More and more Israeli writers born in Russia write nowadays in Hebrew. Among them Alona Kimhi, Boris Zaidman, Miri Litvak, Marina Grosslerner, Alex Epstein, as well as the women-poets Gali-Danah Singer and Sivan Beskin. We shall limit our study to two authors who are translated into French: Alona Kimhi and Boris Zaidman. One could ask: what is the original version of a book which has not been written in the author’s mother tongue? Russian? Hebrew? Or an intertwining of both when humor and nostalgia are echoing from one language to the other? The combination between various languages – Yiddish appears to be also very much present – creates an amazing fusion where a new language emerges: a polyphonic melody that sounds simultaneously vernacular and poetical.

Keywords

• Russia
• literature
• twentieth century
• Israeli society
• quest for identity
• integration