ZARCHI, ISRAEL

ZARCHI, ISRAEL (1909–1947), Hebrew novelist and editor. Born in Jedrzejow, Poland, Zarchi immigrated to Ereẓ Israel in 1929, worked as a laborer, and studied at the Hebrew University (1932–37). He wrote mainly about life in Ereẓ Israel. The pain and anguish that accompanied the efforts of the ḥalutzim to acclimatize themselves and take root in Ereẓ Israel are major themes in his works. His novels include Olamim (1933); Yamim Yeḥefim (1935); Ha-Neft Zorem la-Yam ha-Tikhon (1937); Har ha-Ẓofim (1940); Beit Savta she-Ḥarav (1941); Ereẓ Lo Zeru'ah (1946); Kefar ha-Shillo'aḥ (1948); a short story collection, Ha-Ḥof ha-Nikhsaf, was published posthumously (1950). He translated works by S. Maugham, J. Conrad, and H. von Kleist, and was one of the editors of Yalkut Yerushalmi le-Divrei Sifrut (1942). A. Barshai edited a collection of Zarchi's stories, Yalkut Sippurim (with an introduction and a bibliography, 1983). For a list of English translations of his stories, see Goell, Bibliography, 82. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Toren, in: Itturim (1949), 129–36. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: G. Shaked, Ha-Sipporet ha-Ivrit, 2 (1983), 308–13. (Getzel Kressel)