Yaakov Shabtai

Yaakov Shabtai (1934–81) (Hebrew: יעקב שבתאי‎‎) was an Israeli novelist, playwright, and translator.

Shabtai was born in 1934 in Tel Aviv, Mandate Palestine. In 1957, after completing military service, he joined Kibbutz Merhavia, but returned to Tel Aviv in 1967.

His best known work is Zikhron Devarim (1977), published in English in 1985 as Past Continuous. Written as a single paragraph, it was the first novel to be written in vernacular Hebrew. In its English translation the novel received international acclaim as a unique work of modernism, prompting critic Gabriel Josipovici of The Independent to name it the greatest novel of the decade, comparing it to Proust's In Search of Lost Time.

In Israel, Shabtai is known as a playwright, having written the plays Crowned Head and The Spotted Tiger. He translated many plays into Hebrew, including works by Harold Pinter, Neil Simon, Noël Coward and Eugene O'Neill. Other works by Shabtai include Uncle Peretz Takes Off, a collection of short stories, and Past Perfect (Sof Davar), a continuation of Past Continuous in terms of narrative and style, published posthumously. In 2006 a collection of early stories was published under the title A Circus in Tel Aviv.

Shabtai died of a heart attack in 1981.

Shabtai's brother Aharon is a poet and a translator from Ancient Greek.

• In 1978, Shabtai was awarded the Bernstein Prize (original Hebrew novel category), which was the inaugural year of the prize.
• In 1978, he was awarded the Kinor David Prize for Plays.
• In 1982, he was posthumously awarded the Agnon Prize for literature.
• In 1999, the Tel Aviv Municipality named a street after him.

Works Translated into English

• Past Continuous (Zikhron Devarim, He: זכרון דברים) Jewish Publication Society of America, 1985, ISBN 0-8276-0239-1
• Past Perfect (Sof Davar, He: סוף דבר) Viking Press, 1987, ISBN 0-670-81308-7
• Uncle Peretz Takes Off (Ha-Dod Peretz Mamree, He: הדוד פרץ ממריא) Overlook, 2004, ISBN 1-58567-340-4

Other works

• The Wondrous Journey of the Toad (Ha-Masah Ha-Muflah Shel Ha-Karpad, He: המסע המופלא של הקרפד; Children's book), 1964.
• Poems and Ballads (Shirei Ha-Zemer), 1992.
• The Spotted Tiger and Other Plays (Namer Havarburot Ve-Aherim), 1995.
• Crowned Head and Other Plays (Keter Ba-Rosh Ve-Aherim), 1995.
• A Circus in Tel Aviv (Kirkas be-Tel Aviv, short stories, some alternate versions of stories from Uncle Peretz Takes Off), 2006.