New Releases by Amos

"Perhaps most of the essays in this book are substitutes for stories that I have not managed to write," says Amos Oz in the preface to Under This Blazing Light. Published for the first time in English, this collection of essays reveals the personal and political thoughts of Israel''s most celebrated novelist. The essays in this volume put a unique perspective on the author''s own experiences and development, and reveal a complex and deeply human figure of practical political influence as well as of significant literary stature. Oz''s refreshing blend of skepticism and idealism will win for him new readers, while delighting those who will recognize here the qualities evident in his other writings. Relevant in light of recent developments in the Middle East, the topics covered include an examination of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a dispute between "Right and Right"; a look at the meaning of socialism in the Israeli context; reflections on the concept of "Homeland" and on the nature of the Kibbutz; and reflections on the character of Zionism. The essays also include portraits of several Jewish writers and thinkers whose ideas and themes in one way or another have proved influential or determinative for Amos Oz himself. Amos Oz is widely considered to be Israel''s most famous living writer. His fifteen books include My Michael, Touch the Water, Touch the Wind, In the Land of Israel, Black Box, To Know a Woman, and Fima. His work has been translated into twenty-nine languages, and he has received several major literary awards. He is currently a Professor of Modern Hebrew Literature at Ben-Gurion University.

Pour échapper à son existence étriquée, un homme se lève et s''en va, laissant tout derrière lui. L''histoire serait banale si ce départ n''avait pris les proportions d''une désertion. Car, en quittant le kibboutz où il est né, Jonathan Lifschitz, fils d''un des fondateurs de l''Etat d''Israël, lance en quelque sorte une gifle à la face des idéaux sionistes et socialistes de la génération dont il est issu. Cet univers de Kibboutznik, le bouillant Azaria Guitlin rêve au contraire de s''y faire admettre en étonnant ses aînés par sa culture et son intelligence. Entre ces deux hommes animés d''un mouvement contraire de s''y faire admettre en étonnant ses aînés par sa culture et son intelligence. Entre ces deux hommes animés d''un mouvement contraire, une femme, Rimona, va être le lien qui aidera chacun à trouver un juste repos. Autour d''eux, des personnages sages ou fous, humbles ou orgueilleux, dont Amos Oz nous fait partager les doutes et les espoirs dans un Israël sur lequel plane la menace de la guerre des Six jours.

"גיבור הספר פנתר במרתף הוא נער המכונה "פרופסור" מפני שאינו מפסיק לבדוק מילים, להפוך אותן, להרכיבן ולסדרן מחדש. בימים של חרדה ושל עוינות הדדית הוא מתיידד עם שוטר בריטי תימהני ומואשם על ידי חבריו בבגידה. בתוך כך הוא מגלה את עצמו מחדש, בודק, מהפך ומרכיב מחדש את עולמו, את יחסו להוריו, לאויב, ולעצמו. זהו סיפור עלילה מרתק, חכם ושובה לב, פרי עטו של אחד מבכירי הסופרים העבריים בימינו." -- מעטפת אחורית

Traduit dans plus de dix pays, Mon Michaël confirme tous les espoirs qu''avait fait naître le premier roman d''Amos Oz, Ailleurs peut-être. Il nous montre Hanna, qui, déçue par son mari, par ses amis, par la vie, devient peu à peu étrangère au monde qui l''entoure. Tout lui paraît atteint d''une implacable érosion à laquelle elle-même ne peut échapper. Dans son journal, qu''elle tient comme pour se prouver sa propre existence, fiction et réalité se mêlent. C''est à travers ces pages d''une langue admirable que nous la voyons s''enliser dans la nostalgie de son enfance en Palestine, dans des fantasmes où deux jumeaux arabes reflètent à la fois ses obsessions sexuelles et les terreurs d''un peuple qui ne peut vivre en paix. La guerre du Sinaï est proche. Labyrinthe de rues et de rocs, Jérusalem que cernent d''imprécises menaces, étouffe. Hanna a peur. Elle va entrer dans la guerre comme on sombre dans la mer. Ce bouleversant portrait de femme est aussi une remarquable analyse d''un pays toujours entre guerre et paix.

A snapshot of Israel and the West Bank in the 1980s, through the voices of its inhabitants, from the National Jewish Book Award–winning author of Judas. Notebook in hand, renowned author and onetime kibbutznik Amos Oz traveled throughout his homeland to talk with people—workers, soldiers, religious zealots, aging pioneers, desperate Arabs, visionaries—asking them questions about Israel’s past, present, and future. Observant or secular, rich or poor, native-born or new immigrant, they shared their points of view, memories, hopes, and fears, and Oz recorded them. What emerges is a distinctive portrait of a changing nation and a complex society, supplemented by Oz’s own observations and reflections, that reflects an insider’s view of a country still forming its own identity. In the Land of Israel is “an exemplary instance of a writer using his craft to come to grips with what is happening politically and to illuminate certain aspects of Israeli society that have generally been concealed by polemical formulas” (The New York Times).

Fima er midaldrende, fraskilt og har en fortid som lovende digter. Han hutler sig igennem tilværelsen, men har mange menneskelige relationer og deltager aktivt i debatten om dagens israelske samfund

Three stories of “sensuous prose and indelible imagery” that re-create the world of Jerusalem during the last days of the British Mandate (The New York Times). Refugees drawn to Jerusalem in search of safety are confronted by activists relentlessly preparing for an uprising, oblivious to the risks. Meanwhile, a wife abandons her husband, and a dying man longs for his departed lover. Among these characters lives a boy named Uri, a friend and confidant of several conspirators who love and humor him as he weaves in and out of all three stories. The Hill of Evil Counsel is “as complex, vivid, and uncompromising as Jerusalem itself” (The Nation). “Oz evokes Israeli life with the same sly precision with which Chekhov evoked pre-Revolutionary Russian life.” —Los Angeles Times

As an Israeli secret service agent, Yoel Ravid''s ability to sense the truth made him invaluable. Now widowed and retired, he lives with his mother, his mother-in-law, his daughter, and the haunting memory of his wife. A New York Times Notable Book of the Year. Translated by Nicholas de Lange. A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book

“Brilliant and insistent . . . The prose is sharp as a cameo, simple yet compelling, smoky, precise, lustrous, eerie.” — Boston Sunday Globe Here Amos Oz captures the atmosphere of hatred in which Jews have lived, died, and struggled for understanding. In Crusade, a band of soldiers journeys toward the Holy Land, killing any Jews they encounter; but soon the Crusaders face their own reckoning, as disease and deprivation take their toll. Late Love portrays an aged lecturer in modern Israel with paranoid visions of the destruction of his people at the hands of the Soviets. He is out of touch with a younger and saner generation, but knows they must be warned. “Powerfully written, with subtlety and flagrance delicately balanced.” — Austin American-Statesman

Foundations Text.