Ephraim Kuh
Ephraim Moses Kuh (1731 – 3 April 1790) was a German-Jewish poet.
He was born in Breslau (today Wrocław) to a Jewish merchant family. His father wished him to become a rabbi but in the face of his son's opposition he allowed him to live in Berlin at the house of a relative, the banker and jeweller Veitel Heine Ephraim, who was chairman of the Berlin Jewish congregation. In Berlin Kuh met with Moses Mendelssohn, Lessing and other intellectuals. Proving incompetent as an assistant to his uncle, and addicted to books, he travelled for two years through France and Italy (1768–1770), always accompanied by his library in three large chests. Returning to live in Breslau, he suffered a prolonged nervous breakdown; in 1786 he was paralyzed by a stroke on his right side, from which he never fully recovered.
Kuh, who wrote more than 5000 poems, is believed to be the first Jewish poet to write in the German language.[1] Kuh was particularly noted for his mastery of the epigram in the tradition of Martial. A selection of the poems was published in Zürich after his death in 1792. They contain praise of Frederick the Great of Prussia, but also highlight the problems and indignities experienced by Jews in Germany.
A novel based on Kuh's life, Dichter und Kaufmann (Poet and Merchant), was written in 1839 by Berthold Auerbach.
References
- ^ Sander Gilman and Jack Zipes (editors), (1997) Yale Companion to Jewish Writing and Thought in German Culture. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, p. 160. ISBN 9780300068245
External links
- Franck (1883), "Kuh, Ephraim", Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (in German), vol. 17, Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 317–318
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "Kuh, Moses Ephraim". The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.
- Articles with short description
- Short description is different from Wikidata
- CS1 German-language sources (de)
- Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from the 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia
- Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from the 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia without a Wikisource reference
- Wikipedia articles incorporating text from the 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia
- Articles with FAST identifiers
- Articles with ISNI identifiers
- Articles with VIAF identifiers
- Articles with GND identifiers
- Articles with J9U identifiers
- Articles with LCCN identifiers
- Articles with NKC identifiers
- Articles with DTBIO identifiers
- 1731 births
- 1790 deaths
- Writers from Wrocław
- Jewish poets
- 18th-century German poets
- German male poets
- Jewish German writers
- All stub articles
- German poet stubs