Avigdor Dagan (

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

: אביגדור דגן; born Viktor Fischl; 30 June 1912 – 28 May 2006) was a Czech-Israeli writer, playwright, literary translator, and diplomat. Prior to adopting the Hebraic name in 1955, his name was Viktor Fischl, ''Dagan'', being related to the

word ''dag'' (fish), an approximate translation of Fischl as a diminutive of "fish".

Life

After graduating from the

Charles University Charles University (CUNI; , UK; ; ), or historically as the University of Prague (), is the largest university in the Czech Republic. It is one of the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest universities in the world in conti ...

in Prague, he entered the diplomatic service. In 1939 he emigrated to the United Kingdom to escape the

Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

, where he became an associate to

Jan Masaryk Jan Garrigue Masaryk (14 September 1886 – 10 March 1948) was a Czech diplomat and politician who served as the Foreign Minister of Czechoslovakia from 1940 to 1948. American journalist John Gunther described Masaryk as "a brave, honest, turbule ...

. After the end of the war, he returned home, but on the 1948 coup d'état emigrated to Israel, thereafter changing his name to the one he held through the end of his life. In Israel he continued his diplomatic career becoming

plenipotentiary A ''plenipotentiary'' (from the Latin ''plenus'' "full" and ''potens'' "powerful") is a diplomat who has full powers—authorization to sign a treaty or convention on behalf of a sovereign. When used as a noun more generally, the word can als ...

; he was the first Israeli ambassador to Austria in 1956, the Ambassador to Norway (and while based in Oslo, he was Ambassador to Iceland and Poland. At the same time he continued writing in

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

. Most of his prose was first published in Israel, some in England or in the US. In 1990 he visited his homeland for the first time since his fleeing for refuge. After a long break, publication resumed in his home country, and his works received broader recognition. He was awarded the honorary doctorate from the Charles University. Although he was able to be employed as a diplomat and produce output as an author at the same time, from 1977 onward he devoted his time solely to writing. In his lifelong literary career, he started out as a poet, then later became known as a writer of collections of short stories and novels. He is known for his modern Czech translations of

Psalms The Book of Psalms ( , ; ; ; ; , in Islam also called Zabur, ), also known as the Psalter, is the first book of the third section of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) called ('Writings'), and a book of the Old Testament. The book is an anthology of B ...

and the ''

Song of Songs The Song of Songs (), also called the Canticle of Canticles or the Song of Solomon, is a Biblical poetry, biblical poem, one of the five ("scrolls") in the ('writings'), the last section of the Tanakh. Unlike other books in the Hebrew Bible, i ...

''. His works were translated from Czech into Hebrew as well as other languages; his best known novel ''Dvorní šašci'' (''The Court Jesters'') was translated into 12 languages.

Selected works

* ''Jaro'' (''Spring'') (1933) * ''Kniha nocí'' (1936) * ''Hebrejské melodie'' (''Hebrew tunes'') (1936) * ''Evropské žalmy'' (London, 1941) * ''Mrtvá ves'' (London, 1943) * ''Anglické sonety'' (1946) * ''Písen o lítosti'' (1948) * ''Kuropění (The Cock's Crow)'' (1975) * '' The Clock of Human Form'' (1982) * '' Dvorní šašci'' (''The Court Jester'', 1990, Japanese translation: 2001) * '' Kafka of Jerusalem'' (1996) * '' Poezie Starého zákona'' (''Tales of an Old Silk Hat'') (1998)

Non-fiction

* ''Hovory s Janem Masarykem'' (''Conversations with

'', 1952 in the USA)

References

External links

''Remembering Viktor Fischl, a writer and diplomat with the gift of seeing things from the other's point of view''
obituary by David Vaughan. ''Radio Praha'' 30 May 2006 *http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3256363,00.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Dagan, Avigdor 1912 births 2006 deaths Ambassadors of Israel to Austria Ambassadors of Israel to Norway Ambassadors of Israel to Poland Czech novelists Czech male novelists Czech poets Czech male poets Czechoslovak diplomats Czechoslovak emigrants to Israel Charles University alumni Israeli novelists Israeli people of Czech-Jewish descent Jews who immigrated to the United Kingdom to escape Nazism Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom Writers from Hradec Králové Recipients of the Order of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk Ambassadors of Israel to Iceland Burials at Har HaMenuchot