This is a postcard containing two photos of the author Shmuel Yosef Agnon. The larger photo is a portrait taken of Agnon on receiving an honorary doctorate from the Hebrew University in 1958. The smaller photo is a portrait of Agnon aged 19. Underneath the two portraits are the years of Agnon’s life, 1888 –1970 (or as written on the postcard 5648–5730, according to the Hebrew calendar).
This postcard seems to be an invitation to a literary event given by the author and actor Shlomo Nitzan. The postcard can be dated to the 1990s, because it is known that Shlomo Nitzan hosted two evenings of Agnon stories in that time period.
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Shai Agnon (S.Y. Agnon) - Born Shmuel Yosef Czaczkas, he later changed his surname to Agnon. He is more commonly known in English as S.Y. Agnon and in Hebrew by the acronym Shai Agnon. Agnon was born in Polish Galicia on July 26, 1888 and moved to Jaffa when he was 19 years old. In 1912 he moved to Germany, where he met his wife, Esther Marx. In 1924, the Agnon family moved back to Palestine and lived in the Jerusalem neighbourhood of Talpiot.
Shai Agnon is considered one of the important Israeli and Jewish writers of the twentieth century. His works tell stories of the Jews of Eastern Europe and the shtetl (village). He also wrote about the conflict between the traditional Jewish world and modern life. Among his translated works are: A Simple Story, Two Tales: Betrothed and Edo and Enam, Shira, Israeli Stories (including Tehilah and Forevermore) and the anthology, Days of Awe.
Agnon received many awards and prizes during his life, most importantly the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1966: “for his profoundly characteristic narrative art with motifs from the life of the Jewish people.” He also received honorary doctorates from several universities including the Hebrew University (as depicted in the postcard), Yeshiva University, and Tel Aviv University. He was awarded the Israel Prize in 1954 and 1958, and he has been honoured in many places in Israel and the world, including his hometown of Buchach in Ukraine. After his death, Agnon’s home in Talpiot was turned into a museum.