Acknowledgments

We have been very fortunate in our collaborators on these translations.

Stephen Mitchell worked with Chana Kronfeld, Associate Professor of Hebrew and Comparative Literature, University of California at Berkeley. She compiled a preliminary list of the poems she felt were strongest and most representative; then read through these and others with him, word by word, explaining nuances, ambiguities, and allusions; and finally, with great sensitivity and meticulousness, reviewed his drafts and made many useful suggestions.

Chana Bloch worked closely with Ariel Bloch, Emeritus Professor of Semitic Linguistics, University of California at Berkeley, who brought to this project his critical acumen, his impressive knowledge of the Hebrew language, and his sensitivity to the nuances of English. He read each poem with her in Hebrew and offered rigorous criticisms of her English versions; in preparing the forty new translations for this edition, he was a generous collaborator. She is also indebted to Yehuda Amichai, who graciously went over the translations for the 1986 edition with her in Jerusalem and reviewed the new ones, and to Chana Kronfeld, whose subtle and incisive comments reflected her unsurpassed command of Amichai’s work. Finally, she wishes to thank Anita Barrows, Shirley Kaufman, and Stanley Moss, who offered many helpful suggestions.