Close Encounters With Twenty Israeli Writers

by Negev, Eilat

• ISBN13: 9780853034858
• ISBN10: 0853034850
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-03-01
• Publisher: Vallentine Mitchell

Summary

This collection of biographies is the first of its kind, as Israeli literature is almost devoid of author biographies. They are arranged chronologically and cover a hundred years of Israeli literature; the change of style and subject matter hints at the demographical and historical transformations that have occurred during this span of time. The profiles are based on interviews carried out with all the living writers, or - in the case of deceased ones - with family members, biographers and researchers. In the early days of the State, Jaffa oranges were the pride export of Israel; and then came diamonds; and, nowadays, it is books. Israelis are going through dramatic, turbulent events, experiencing an existential, social and religious crisis. This intense life means that Israelis occupy several layers of existence, which create many kinds of personal experiences that writers in other countries seldom experience. Thus, a reading of the writers' profiles offers a different way of viewing Israel, since each writer has taken a part in events outside his or her own personal scope. All this becomes their subject matter, and Israel writing provides a wide panorama not just of literature but also of Israeli life.

Author Biography

Eilat Negev has studied English Literature and History of Art, and has an MA in Mass Communication and Translation from the Hebrew University, Jerusalem. She is the literary correspondent of Yedioth Achronot, Israel's major daily

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Eilat Negev
Introduction	xiv
Dr Risa Domb
Abandoned People, Lost Places	1	(10)
Shmuel-Yosef Agnon
Eyes that Penetrate the Abyss	11	(9)
Uri-Zvi Greenberg
Lava of Love and Politics	20	(8)
Natan Alterman
Cursed by Love	28	(9)
Leah Goldberg
No Stone is Worth Dying For	37	(9)
S. Yizhar
A Secular Prophet	46	(9)
Yehuda Amichai
A Gentle Man in a Harsh Land	55	(10)
Natan Zach
Caught in a Web of Hallucination	65	(8)
Aharon Appelfeld
End of the Matter	73	(9)
Yaacov Shabtai
The Things to be Forgotten	82	(9)
Dalia Ravikovitch
In Search of Borders	91	(10)
A.B. Yehoshua
The Secret Agent from the Eighteenth Compartment	101	(10)
Amos Oz
The Double Life of the Rabbi's Wife	111	(8)
Hannah Bat Shahar
Never Shall I Hear God's Sweet Voice	119	(8)
Yona Wallach
The Emasculated Man and the Queen Bee	127	(8)
Meir Shalev
I'm an Egg without a Shell	135	(9)
David Grossman
Reminiscences of a Street Cat	144	(9)
Ronit Matalon
A Collector of Catastrophes	153	(8)
Zeruyah Shalev
Between Motherhood and Madness	161	(9)
Orly Castel-Bloom
Cinderella's Lost Sandal	170
Dorit Rabinyan