Miri Ben-Simhon

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Miri Ben-Simhon
מירי בן-שמחון
Black-and-white upper-body photo of Israeli poet Miri Ben-Simhon. She is wearing a white t-shirt, has wavy dark hair past her shoulders, and is looking to the left of the camera.
BornJanuary 13, 1950
DiedJune 24, 1996
NationalityIsraeli
OccupationPoet
Years active1975–1996

Miri Ben-Simhon (Hebrew: מירי בן-שמחון‎; January 13, 1950 – June 24, 1996) was an Israeli poet.

Biography[]

Ben-Simhon was born in 1950 in a transit camp in Marseille, France, while her parents, Zehava and Haim Ben-Simhon,[1] were on their way from Fez, Morocco to Israel,[2] the youngest of their three children.[3] The family was placed in a transit camp in Jerusalem, and later moved to the mostly-Moroccan Katamon neighborhood of Jerusalem.[3] According to , who published a critical anthology of essays about Ben-Simhon, she was a bright student, and was identified as early as elementary school as having a gift for literature.[4] Her father abandoned the family when Ben-Simhon was young.[5] Her mother got married again, to an immigrant from Italy, and thus she was exposed to French (colonial), Moroccan, Italian, and Israeli culture.[6]

When Ben-Simhon began to attend an exclusive high school in a neighboring wealthy (i.e. Ashkenazi) area, she discovered for the first time the negative stigma held by the Israeli Ashkenazi mainstream regarding Mizrahim, and Moroccans in particular.

Ben-Simhon did her mandatory military service in an intelligence unit of the army, and then worked for two years in the secret security services. In the course of her duties, she "witnessed things that disturbed her deeply, and caused her to resign."[4]

Ben-Simhon studied Hebrew Literature at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and acting at the Beit Zvi dramatic arts academy in Tel Aviv.[7] Upon completing her studies, Ben-Simhon began working at an advertising agency, and as an editor for the local newspaper "Jerusalem". She also worked as a translator and editor for various institutions.[6]

Ben-Simhon started writing at age 25.[1] She wrote short stories and poems, and also translated poems into Hebrew. Her first collection, Interested Not Interested, was published in 1983, and she published a total of four volumes of work. In addition, her poems have been included in anthologies, and some have been translated to English.

Ben-Simhon had several episodes of mental illness, and was hospitalized in Talabia psychiatric hospital in Jerusalem.[8] She was in a long-term relationship with novelist Shimon Zimmer.[9]

On July 24, 1996, Ben-Simhon was killed in a car crash.

Themes and topics in her work[]

Ben-Simhon's work deals with issues relating to gender, ethnicity, class, culture and politics. She writes about being a Mizrahi woman in Israel, and about being a Mizrahi poet in an Ashkenazi literary world. Her poetry has been called "sensitive and brutal, personal and political,"[10] and also "fascinating, sharp and in particular, very intelligent."[5] She wrote about racial stigmas, about societal power relations, about growing up poor, and living in a society where you "cannot gain entrance by being good", because you do not have the correct identity profile.[3]

A great deal of her poetry dealt with significant relationships in her life: For example, her friendship and collegial relationship with Israeli poet Amira Hess, which spanned over 20 years, found its way into both women's books and poetry. Other poets whose work touched on hers in some way include that of her life-partner writer Shimon Zimmer, and poets Oded Peleg and Balfour Hakak.[9]

But it is widely accepted that a particularly significant person in her work is Israeli poet Meir Wieseltier. Much of her first collection, Interested Not Interested, deals with her relationship with him, though no one knows for certain whether there was ever a romantic or sexual connection between the two, or if what she wrote about was all fantasy.[11] Her life-partner, Shimon Zimmer, has stated that there were incidents in which Ben-Simhon "occasionally, in times of crisis, would go to his house and try to force her presence on him. I think one time a window was broken, and he called the police."[5] Much of what she wrote was clearly a product of her imagination.[8] It has been stated by mutual acquaintances of the two that Wieseltier treated Ben-Simhon in a very condescending and dismissive way, and according to researcher and poet Mati Shemoelof, it is far from coincidental that the best-known poem from her first collection dealing with Wieseltier is also a poem about the inferior status of a Mizrahi woman, and the stereotypical way Mizrahi women are sexualized, and not viewed as sources of knowledge or intelligence.[6]

Critic Eli Hirsch, however, dismisses Wieseltier's importance in her work and life: "Attempting to attribute to him a central role not only in her biography but also in the understanding of her poetry seems problematic to me. Wieseltier seems to mostly be a kind of hook on which the poet hung her yearning for a father. Much more significant is the influence of other women poets on the poetry of Ben-Simhon – Yona Wallach, and Hess, a friend of Ben-Simhon, who shared the heavy burden of Mizrahi women's poetry in those years."[5]

Film[]

In 2017, a documentary film about Ben-Simhon's life, Miriam's Song (Ahava Mitrageshet Lavo) was created by filmmakers Eldad Boganim and Israel Winkler, with screenwriter Dan Albo.[12] The film includes a recording from 1988, which was discovered by chance, after her death, in which Ben-Simhon reads a love letter to the poet Meir Wieseltier. The letter, the heart of this film, offers a glimpse at Ben-Simhon's ruptured soul.[12]

Works[]

  • מעוניינת לא מעוניינת, הוצאת הקיבוץ המאוחד, תל אביב, 1983. Interested Not Interested
  • שבלת דקה בכד חרס עתיק, אל"ף, תל אביב, 1985. A Thin Wheat-Stalk in an Ancient Clay Jar
  • צמא, ספרית הפועלים, תל אביב, 1990. Thirst
  • אקזיסטנציאליזם חרד, הוצאת כרמל, ירושלים, 1998. Anxious Existentialism. Published posthumously.

In 2018, an anthology of all her works, with some additional poems from her estate, was published:

  • רק האויר בחוץ שגיא, גמא, תל אביב 2018 Only the Air Outside is Exalted

Bibliography[]

  • Miriam's Song: A Critical Anthology About Miri Ben-Simhon and Her Poetry. (Ed. Dan Albo) שירת מרים : אנתולוגיה ביוגרפית על מירי בן-שמחון ושירתה (ירושלים : כרמל, תש"ע 2010) עורך, דן אלבו

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b "מירי בן-שמחון (1950־1996)". לקסיקון הספרות העברית החדשה. Retrieved April 3, 2019.
  2. ^ "Miri Ben-Simhon". Poetry Foundation. Retrieved April 3, 2019.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c Sulak, Marcela (March 1, 2017). "Girl from the Slums". TLV1 – Arts and Culture, Israel in Translation. Retrieved April 3, 2019.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b אלבו, דן (2010). שירת מרים. Tel Aviv: כרמל. p. 28.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b c d אלי הירש (March 13, 2018). "חוצה את הקווים". Yedioth Aharonoth (in Hebrew). Retrieved April 3, 2019.
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b c "הנסיכה הכלואה". מתי שמואלוף (in Hebrew). September 26, 2008. Retrieved April 3, 2019.
  7. ^ עלון, קציעה (January 9, 2015). "מסואב ומלא קסם: ויזלטיר בשיריה של בן שמחון". Ha'aretz (in Hebrew). Retrieved April 3, 2019.
  8. ^ Jump up to: a b "מירי בן שמחון – קורות חיים". ynet. September 25, 2008. Retrieved April 3, 2019.
  9. ^ Jump up to: a b דן אלבו (July 24, 2017). "מֶה עָנֹג שִׁירוֹ שֶׁל גַּעֲגוּעַ". סלונט (in Hebrew). Retrieved April 3, 2019.
  10. ^ Katz, Lisa (October 24, 2016). "Miri Ben Simhon". Poetry Foundation. Retrieved April 3, 2019.
  11. ^ "מעוניינת לא מעוניינת / מירי בן שמחון". תרבות (in Hebrew). Retrieved April 3, 2019.
  12. ^ Jump up to: a b "אהבה מתרגשת לבוא". New Fund for Cinema and Television. Retrieved April 3, 2019.

External links[]

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