Six Israeli Novellas

by Yaakov Shabtai, Benjamin Tammuz, Yehudit Hendel, et al.

Book Overview

This is the most representative anthology yet published of modern Hebrew novellas, a book that will provide any reader with a fine overview of the best fiction that small but vibrant country has to offer. Included here are novellas by six of Israel's most important and honored contemporary writers. Aharon Appelfeld's In the Isles of St. George tells of a fugitive black marketeer hiding on a desolate Italian island, who finds his past, his...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1567920918
• ISBN13: 9781567920918
• Release Date: May 1999
• Publisher: David R. Godine Publisher
• Length: 338 Pages
• Weight: 1.28 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 5.5" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

an adventure in reading

Each of the Novellas has a protagonist of unusual proportions, attempting to find something just slightly beyond himself or herself. While being a part of contemporary fiction, there is a certain historical perspective such as the disposed, wandering Jew of Aharon Appelfeld's "The Isles of St. George." Almost alone on this island, he wants to forget Europe, Israel,and his past. One of the most interesting characters in my opinion is Yani in David Grossman's "Yani on the Mountain." Here is a soldier left to oversee a mountain after the war of 1973. The mountain becomes a support, a challenge, something to be overcome, but his friend confronts him, "Hiding uphere on the mountain--armoring himself with hostility and contempt. Afraid. Afraid.." Benjamin Tammuz has one brother living his life vicariously through watching his brother's life unfold in a near-by house. "The Brother" is a thoughtful tale of envy, suppressed love, and hatred. In Yaakov Shabtai's "Uncle Peretz Takes Flight", a zany Jewish communist wants to save the world (which he doesn't even like very much), attending meetings during the day and coming home to climb up on the roof in preparation for flight. Altogether, this is a wonderful collection of stories.