David Avidan (Tel Aviv 1934-1995)
The poet David Avidan strove throughout his life to break down barriers in language, genre and time.
This mission was manifested in his many works concerning the future. His poetry displays daring innovation and an unusual use of language which influenced many later authors. His stormy life is
reflected, among other things, in the experimental cinematic movies that he created. The archives contain personal documents and correspondence, his newspaper columns, postcards and a wide range of visual materials.
Archive History
After David Avidan's death, he left the rights of his estate to Tziporan Lotam – the mother of his son, and subsequently the archive moved from place to place in the North.
Prof. Nissim Calderon had been in close contact with David Avidan for many years, as a result of his doctoral subject which concentrated on Avidan's works. When he discovered that he had bequeathed the rights of his estate to Tziporen Lotam, he approached Prof. Yigal Schwartz with the idea that the Heksherim Institute acquire the rights. Prof. Schwartz agreed and Prof. Calderon travelled to meet with Tziporen in the Galilee where she lived. He was accompanied by the library manager and the person responsible for the Amos Oz Archives. They checked the estate and were impressed by its scope and recommended to Prof. Schwartz that he acquire the rights. This is how the archive arrived at Heksherim.
Scope of the collection
The archive includes his works, books, script drafts, poetry, plays and the like, research and reviews of his work, a wide range of correspondence with people both in Israel and abroad, and business correspondence of the companies he managed. His published articles in daily newspapers in many subjects, hundreds of notes of literary thoughts, and thousands of other articles which are still being sorted and deciphered are also housed in the archive, along with his original typewriter on which he wrote.
