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From My Bookshelf: Fiction by Etgar Keret

by Erika Dreifus on
5

Confession: I frequently read, admire, and link to Israeli author Etgar Keret’s nonfiction/essays (particularly his columns for Tablet), but I haven’t always been as comfortable with Keret’s fiction. I read The Nimrod Flipout when its U.S. publisher sent me a review copy of the English translation several years back (2006), and although I understood what the fuss was about–Keret is one prodigiously talented, not to mention prolific writer–my own reading tastes just don’t hunger for the sheer strangeness–call it experimentalism, fabulism, magical realism, whatever–that seemed to characterize the collection.

Moreover, back then–around the time of the Second Lebanon War–my nascent interest in attempting to understand contemporary Israel through its literature was intensifying. There was so much about Israel that I, a Diaspora Jew, needed to learn (this remains all too true six years later). Keret’s fables and flash fictions didn’t seem to engage with the seriousness of what the Israelis call hamatzav— “the situation,” namely, the pervasive conflict that suffuses life in their country. It occurred to me only hazily (if at all) that this was a selfish indulgence of my Diaspora self; living within “the situation,” Keret could certainly be excused from spending still more time with it in his fiction.

But last week, a review-essay on The Millions caught my eye. Titled “The Maturation of Etgar Keret” and written by Bezalel Stern, it captivated me. And it sent me hurrying to add two new volumes to my bookshelf: Suddenly, A Knock on the Door (Keret’s latest book to be released in English, with translations by Nathan Englander, Miriam Shlesinger, and Sondra Silverston) and Four Stories, a slim collection I’ll address in greater detail shortly. (more…)

Jewish Literary Links for Shabbat

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled
Photo Credit: Reut Miryam Cohen
  • It’s always a good week when the quarterly Jewish Book World arrives in the mail. I’ll signal to you the essays from Sami Rohr Prize winner Gal Beckerman, Rohr Choice Award winner Abigail Green, and Rohr finalist Ruth Franklin. (You can download a digital copy here.)
  • Next up: How about an anthology featuring work by women writers from the Middle East? Great idea! Just leave out the Israelis, please. Or else. (Can you imagine the response if it had been an Israeli author who campaigned for the exclusion of Palestinians?)
  • Benjamin Ivry writes about Swedish-Jewish novelist Stephan Mendel-Enk.
  • Job alert: “The Yiddish Book Center seeks a Program Manager to join a dynamic cultural organization and to join its education team. The program manager will oversee an exciting new national education program designed and led by the Book Center. The program targets Jews in their 20s and will offer week-long sessions exploring diverse aspects of modern Jewish culture and creativity.”
  • “As the publishing world waits with baited breath for the opening of Book Expo America this weekend, the Museum of Jewish Heritage is doing its part by bringing together authors from the Museum family to talk books with visitors. Six survivors and one survivor/US Army vet who have written books – or whose story is told in a book – will sit at tables in the lobby and talk about their books and their experiences during the war.” If you’ll be in NYC this Sunday, consider stopping by for this free event.

    • Shabbat shalom!

    Jewish Literary Links for Shabbat

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled
    Photo Credit: Reut Miryam Cohen
  • The new issue of Moment magazine features Jewish fiction throughout. See especially the symposium, “Is There Such a Thing as Jewish Fiction?” (with a preface from the magazine’s new Fiction Editor, Alan Cheuse); the winning entries in the Publish-a-Kid Contest; and, in this (atypical) free digital copy of the entire issue, Racelle Rosett’s short story, “Shidach.”
  • Another short story well worth your time: Adam Berlin’s “Aryan Jew.”
  • And speaking of short stories: Here’s a chance to win a free copy of Edith Pearlman’s Binocular Vision (or a copy of my collection, Quiet Americans).
  • Adam Kirsch has reviewed Laurent Binet’s HHhH (trans. Sam Taylor).
  • My latest micro-essay, which takes place within the Centre de Documentation Juive Contemporaine (CDJC) in Paris, appears in the current issue of Hippocampus Magazine.
  • If you’re in Israel, you’ll want to take note of the extraordinary program and presenters for “Tsuris and Other Literary Pleasures,” a free creative-writing conference that begins on Sunday.

    • Shabbat shalom.

    Jewish Literary Links for Shabbat

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled
    Photo Credit: Reut Miryam Cohen
  • This week brought us the April Jewish Book Carnival, an assortment of book-focused blog links from a multiple contributors. Many thanks to April’s host, Amy Meltzer and her terrific Homeshuling blog.
  • An extensive (and salty) interview with U.S. Poet Laureate Philip Levine, complemented by several poems, on Tablet.
  • My friend B.J. Epstein is a scholar of children’s literature (among her other areas of expertise). This week, she shared some thoughts on “No Happy Endings: Holocaust Memorial Day and Children.”
  • In case you missed the post earlier this week, author Ellen Cassedy anticipated Yom HaShoah with reflections on Eva Hoffman’s inspirational After Such Knowledge.
  • Also on the Holocaust theme: my enthusiastic review of Laurent Binet’s HHhH (translated by Sam Taylor).
  • And an item from my Practicing Writing blog, about Yom HaShoah and my short story collection, Quiet Americans.

    • Shabbat shalom.

    Yom HaShoah Reflections on Eva Hoffman’s AFTER SUCH KNOWLEDGE (A Guest Post by Ellen Cassedy)

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled

    As we approach Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day), author Ellen Cassedy shares reflections on an influential book in this guest post.

    Remembering the Holocaust with Eva Hoffman

    by Ellen Cassedy

    “What meanings does the Holocaust hold for us today – and how are we going to pass on those meanings to subsequent generations?” These are the questions Eva Hoffman poses in her courageous book, After Such Knowledge: Memory, History, and the Legacy of the Holocaust.

    Hoffman’s acclaimed memoir, Lost in Translation, recounts her emigration from Poland at age 13 with her parents, who were Holocaust survivors, and her struggles to adjust to her new home in Canada. Published 15 years later, in 2004, After Such Knowledge is less well-known, but it made a deep impression on me when I first read it. As we observe Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, I’ve been rereading it and finding it as provocative and valuable as ever.

    The book is a multi-faceted meditation. It draws on Hoffman’s personal experiences and those of other children of survivors; her extensive reading in the fields of psychology, culture, and politics; and her years of conversations with Poles and Germans of all ages.

    I discovered the book at the exact moment that I myself was embarking on a journey to the Old World – to Lithuania, the land of my Jewish forebears. (more…)