A foundational story of modern Hebrew literature: In the heart of the seas ( בִּלְבַב יַמִּים ) by S. Y. Agnon ( ש״י עגנון ). Translation from Hebrew into Catalan and hermeneutic study

Abstract

This article presents the first full translation into Catalan of In the heart of the seas ( בִּלְבַב יַמִּים ), a story by the winner of the 1966 Nobel Prize for Literature S. Y. Agnon ( ש״י עגנון ), which ushered in the Hebrew language’s modern literary tradition. The article also includes an introductory essay that attempts to provide some of the main keys to interpreting the tale. Written in 1926 and first published in its entirety in 1934, In the heart of the seas tells the story, using a unique and surprising stylistic and linguistic approach, of a journey from the centre of European Hasidism (the city of Buchach, in the part of the region of Galicia lying in modern-day Ukraine) to the Land of Israel. In the heart of the seas has already been translated into languages such as English, French, Italian, Spanish, Romanian, Swedish and Yiddish; here, we offer its first ever translation into Catalan.