Editing David Avidan

{{Short description|Israeli poet (1934–1995)}}
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| name               = David Avidan
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| native_name        = דוד אבידן
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| caption            = "David Avidan", painting by Yael-Shahar Sarid, 1994
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| birth_place        = [[Tel Aviv]], [[Mandatory Palestine|Palestine]]
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| alma_mater         = [[Hebrew University of Jerusalem]]
| occupation         = Poet, [[Painting|painter]], [[filmmaker]], [[publicist]], and playwright
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'''David Avidan''' ({{Langx|he|דוד אבידן}}; February 21, 1934 – May 11, 1995) was an Israeli "[[poet]], [[painter]], [[filmmaker]], [[publicist]], and [[playwright]]" (as he often put it). He wrote 20 published books of Hebrew poetry.

==Biography and literary career==
He was born in [[Tel Aviv|Tel Aviv, Mandatory Palestine]], and studied [[Literature]] and [[Philosophy]] while briefly studying at [[Hebrew University of Jerusalem|Hebrew University]]. He wrote mostly in [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], and was an avant-garde artist throughout his life. He translated many of his own poems into English, and received several awards both as a poet and as a [[translation|translator]].

He was not popular with most critics or the general public throughout his life, often criticized as being egocentric, [[chauvinism|chauvinistic]], and [[Technocrat (derogatory)|technocratic]]. His first book, ''Lipless Faucets'' (1954), was attacked by nearly all poetry critics; the first favorable review was by [[Gabriel Moked]], editor of the literary quarterly ''Akhshav'', who later became one of Avidan's closest friends.

By the early 1990s he could scarcely make a living, and his mental condition had deteriorated. Avidan died in Tel Aviv, the city which had played a central role in his life, and was, in many ways, the center of his creation.

Avidan died on May 11, 1995, in his [[Tel Aviv]] apartment at the age of 61.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/05/13/obituaries/david-avidan-poet-and-playwright-61.html|title=David Avidan, Poet And Playwright, 61|author=[[Associated Press]]|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=May 13, 1995}}</ref> Since his death, Avidan's reputation has been on the rise both in literary circles and in the popular imagination, positioning him as one of the core poets of the Israeli canon. A volume of Selected Poems by Avidan, "Futureman," translated by Tsipi Keller, has been published by [[Phoneme Media]] in 2017.

==Awards==
In 1993, Avidan was the co-recipient (jointly with [[Amalia Kahana-Carmon]]) of the [[Bialik Prize]] for [[Hebrew literature]].<ref name=bialik>{{Cite web|title=List of Bialik Prize recipients 1933–2004 (in Hebrew), Tel Aviv Municipality website |url=http://www.tel-aviv.gov.il/Hebrew/_MultimediaServer/Documents/12516738.pdf |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071217143811/http://www.tel-aviv.gov.il/Hebrew/_MultimediaServer/Documents/12516738.pdf |archivedate=December 17, 2007 }}</ref>

==Movies==
* ''Message from the Future'', a 1981 Israeli film  Avidan wrote, directed and starred in, is a science fiction movie in English about future humans visiting present-day Israel. In the year 3005, a man is sent back to 1985 to convince the present leaders make certain that [[World War III]] happens, which he guarantees will make for a better future. Having already caused natural disasters and catastrophes by coming back from the future, he now tries to force his message on the world press and TV. Sheldon Teitelbaum has judged the film 'execrable'.<ref>John Clute and Peter Nicholls, eds, ''The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction'' Orbit Books, 1993, p. 630.</ref>

==Books (poetry) – partial list==
* Lipless Faucets, 1954
* Personal Problems, 1957
* Subtotal, 1960
* Pressure Poems, 1962
* Something for Someone, 1964
* A Book of Possibilities – Poems and More, 1985

==See also==
*[[Bialik Prize|List of Bialik Prize recipients]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
*''[[The Modern Hebrew Poem Itself]]'' (2003), {{ISBN|0-8143-2485-1}}
* ''Futureman'' (2017) {{ISBN|978-1944700140}}

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070501045434/http://library.osu.edu/sites/users/galron.1/00470.php לקסיקון הספרות העברית החדשה – דוד אבידן  ]
*[https://www.nytimes.com/1995/05/13/obituaries/david-avidan-poet-and-playwright-61.html NY Times obituary, retrieved October 5, 2008]
*http://mailchi.mp/1480e735fb8d/a-very-phoneme-fall
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Avidan, David}}
[[Category:1934 births]]
[[Category:1995 deaths]]
[[Category:Jewish Israeli artists]]
[[Category:Jewish Israeli male actors]]
[[Category:Israeli male poets]]
[[Category:Israeli male painters]]
[[Category:Israeli film directors]]
[[Category:Israeli male film actors]]
[[Category:Israeli male screenwriters]]
[[Category:Jewish Israeli screenwriters]]
[[Category:Burials at Yarkon Cemetery]]
[[Category:20th-century Israeli poets]]
[[Category:20th-century Israeli male actors]]
[[Category:20th-century Israeli male artists]]
[[Category:20th-century Israeli male writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Israeli painters]]
[[Category:Israeli science fiction writers]]
[[Category:Hebrew-language poets]]
[[Category:Hebrew-language playwrights]]
[[Category:Film people from Tel Aviv]]
[[Category:Hebrew University of Jerusalem alumni]]
[[Category:Hebrew–English translators]]
[[Category:Recipients of Prime Minister's Prize for Hebrew Literary Works]]
[[Category:20th-century Israeli screenwriters]]
[[Category:20th-century Israeli translators]]
[[Category:Bialik Prize recipients]]