Isaac Satanow
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Isaac Satanow (born at Satanow, Poland, 1733; died in Berlin, Germany, 25
December 1805) was a Polish Jewish scholar and poet.
Works
In his Mishle Asaf he so blended the style of the Bible with modern fine writing
that the critics of his time were at a loss how to characterize the work. Some
were inclined to revere it as a relic of antiquity, while others attacked the
author as a literary charlatan who desired to palm off his own work as a
production of the ancient writers. Rabbi Joseph of Frankfort gave a clever
criticism :
"I do not really know to whom to ascribe these sayings [of the "Mishle
Asaf"]; it may be the publisher himself has composed them; for I know him to be
a plagiarist. He, however, differs from the rest of that class in this respect,
that they plagiarize the works of others and pass them for their own, while he
plagiarizes his own works and passes them for those of others."
While writing his Mishle Asaf, a work in which noble thoughts are expressed in
the choicest diction, he did not disdain at the same time to write a treatise on
how to drill holes through three hundred pearls in one day and how to mix
successfully different kinds of liquors. Even in the most earnest and solemn of
his writings there can always be detected an undercurrent of the most playful
humor.
Satanow as a poet belongs to two distinctly different schools. In his earlier
works he followed the theory of the old school, which considered plays on words,
great flourish of diction, and variegated expressions as the essential
requirements of good poetry; but in his later works he used the simple, forceful
style of the Biblical writers, and he may be justly styled "the restorer of
Biblical poetry." It is sufficient to compare his "Eder ha-Yeḳar" and
"Sefer ha-Ḥizzayon" with his "Mishle Asaf" to see at a glance the
difference in style.
Isaac Satanow (1732–1804) was born in Satanov, Podolia, and settled in Berlin in 1771 or 1772, where he served as the director of Society for the Education of the Youth. Among the most prolific of the early Haskalah writers, he did not restrict himself to any particular literary field, but wrote in most of those genres used by the later Haskalah writers. Satanow demonstrated a wealth of knowledge of the Hebrew language, ranking as a model stylist throughout the Haskalah period. He ascribed several of his works to earlier writers, and consequently used fictitious names for the authors of the recommendations for his own books and of their forewords. He wrote a number of books of liturgy, Tefillah mi-Kol ha-Shanah al Pi Kelalei ha-Dikduk (1785), Haggadah shel Pesah (1785); and Selihot (1785); as well as Mishlei Asaf and Zemirot Asaf (4 vols., 1789–1802), collections of proverbs in imitation of the Book of Proverbs. (Satanow adopted the pseudonym Asaf from the acrostic for Itzik Satanow.) The work, attributed to the biblical Asaph son of Berechiah, is written in the style of Proverbs and Psalms. He may have been the first Hebrew writer who sought to break out of the strict framework of biblical style, although he himself was very adept in the biblical style called melizah. Hence he demanded that new words be coined; in Iggeret Beit Tefillah he complains that the vocabulary of biblical Hebrew had not preserved its great lexical range.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Isaac Satanow (born at Satanow, Poland, 1733; died in Berlin, Germany, 25
December 1805) was a Polish Jewish scholar and poet.
Works
In his Mishle Asaf he so blended the style of the Bible with modern fine writing
that the critics of his time were at a loss how to characterize the work. Some
were inclined to revere it as a relic of antiquity, while others attacked the
author as a literary charlatan who desired to palm off his own work as a
production of the ancient writers. Rabbi Joseph of Frankfort gave a clever
criticism :
"I do not really know to whom to ascribe these sayings [of the "Mishle
Asaf"]; it may be the publisher himself has composed them; for I know him to be
a plagiarist. He, however, differs from the rest of that class in this respect,
that they plagiarize the works of others and pass them for their own, while he
plagiarizes his own works and passes them for those of others."
While writing his Mishle Asaf, a work in which noble thoughts are expressed in
the choicest diction, he did not disdain at the same time to write a treatise on
how to drill holes through three hundred pearls in one day and how to mix
successfully different kinds of liquors. Even in the most earnest and solemn of
his writings there can always be detected an undercurrent of the most playful
humor.
Satanow as a poet belongs to two distinctly different schools. In his earlier
works he followed the theory of the old school, which considered plays on words,
great flourish of diction, and variegated expressions as the essential
requirements of good poetry; but in his later works he used the simple, forceful
style of the Biblical writers, and he may be justly styled "the restorer of
Biblical poetry." It is sufficient to compare his "Eder ha-Yeḳar" and
"Sefer ha-Ḥizzayon" with his "Mishle Asaf" to see at a glance the
difference in style.
Isaac Satanow (1732–1804) was born in Satanov, Podolia, and settled in Berlin in 1771 or 1772, where he served as the director of Society for the Education of the Youth. Among the most prolific of the early Haskalah writers, he did not restrict himself to any particular literary field, but wrote in most of those genres used by the later Haskalah writers. Satanow demonstrated a wealth of knowledge of the Hebrew language, ranking as a model stylist throughout the Haskalah period. He ascribed several of his works to earlier writers, and consequently used fictitious names for the authors of the recommendations for his own books and of their forewords. He wrote a number of books of liturgy, Tefillah mi-Kol ha-Shanah al Pi Kelalei ha-Dikduk (1785), Haggadah shel Pesah (1785); and Selihot (1785); as well as Mishlei Asaf and Zemirot Asaf (4 vols., 1789–1802), collections of proverbs in imitation of the Book of Proverbs. (Satanow adopted the pseudonym Asaf from the acrostic for Itzik Satanow.) The work, attributed to the biblical Asaph son of Berechiah, is written in the style of Proverbs and Psalms. He may have been the first Hebrew writer who sought to break out of the strict framework of biblical style, although he himself was very adept in the biblical style called melizah. Hence he demanded that new words be coined; in Iggeret Beit Tefillah he complains that the vocabulary of biblical Hebrew had not preserved its great lexical range.
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