orig. Shmuel Yosef Halevi Czaczkes
born July 17, 1888, Buczacz, Galicia, Austria-Hungary
died Feb. 17, 1970, Reḥovot, Israel
Israeli writer.
Born into a Polish Galician family, Agnon settled in Palestine in 1907 and chose Hebrew as his literary language. The Day Before Yesterday (1945), perhaps his greatest novel, examines the problem facing the Westernized Jew who immigrates to Israel. Other works include the novels The Bridal Canopy (1919) and A Guest for the Night (1938). He is regarded as one of the greatest modern Hebrew novelists and short-story writers. In 1966 he and Nelly Sachs shared the Nobel Prize for Literature.