AMOS OZ

AMOS OZ
Writing the Israeli Paradox
Introduction

The works of Israeli writer Amos Oz have been described as "indispensable reading for anyone who wishes to understand life in Israel, the ideology that sustains it, and the passions that drive its people." Oz writes with an intensity and authority deeply rooted in the contemporary life of this conflicted nation. Immensely popular in his own country, Oz has also established an international reputation. Translations of his books have appeared in more than thirty languages, including Japanese, Dutch, Norwegian, and Rumanian. Hebrew, however, is the language in which Oz chooses to write. He calls it a "volcano in action," still rapidly evolving into new forms. Through his use of Hebrew, Oz views himself as the "tribal storyteller," recording the strengths and foibles of his people. While arguably Israel’s most celebrated novelist, he is also among its most controversial; his views stirring complicated emotions in Israelis and American Jews alike.

Amos Oz is a sabra, or native-born Israeli. Born Amos Klausner, he adopted the name Oz, a Hebrew word meaning strength. He has seen military service in two armed conflicts--the Six Day War and the Yom Kippur War--and has lived most of his adult life, and much of his career, as a member of Kibbutz Hulda, one of Israel’s collective communities. His fictional themes arise from his experiences of war and collective living, and are often considered controversial for their presentations of individuals who rebel against Israeli society’s ideals.

The kibbutz provides Oz with a powerful symbol of the nation’s aspirations, as well as a microcosm of the larger Jewish family in Israel, uncomfortably intimate and inescapable, yet united in defense against the hostile forces besieging its borders. He has said that throughout his life the kibbutz "evoked and fed my curiosity about the strange phenomenon of flawed, tormented human beings dreaming about perfection, aching for the Messiah, aspiring to change human nature. This perpetual paradox . . . is indeed one of the main threads in my writing."

A central concern of Oz’s fiction is the conflict between idealistic Zionism and the realities of life in a pluralistic society. Accordingly, many of his sabra characters have decidedly ambivalent feelings towards the Arab population, especially Palestinians. By exploring these feelings, Oz exposes a sensitive aspect of Israeli self-perception. Oz himself views the Arab-Israeli problem as pitting one right against another. He believes that both Arabs and Jews need to give up a part of their respective dreams about recapturing the glorious past for the sake of a stable future. Oz characterizes the current dispute as a tragedy that can have either a Shakespearean resolution, in which a measure of justice prevails but everyone dies, or a Chekhovian resolution, in which everyone ends up embittered and heartbroken but still alive.

Oz maintains that Israel will always be his source of inspiration. Of his homeland he has said: "Yes, indeed, I’m disgusted, appalled, sick and tired sometime. Even when I’m sick and tired, I’m there. . . . It’s my thing, if you will, in the same sense that William Faulkner belonged in the Deep South. It’s my thing and my place and my addiction." The literary critic and scholar Alfred Kazin states that Oz demonstrates for us "how little we know about what goes on inside the Israeli head . . . . To the unusually sensitive and humorous mind of Amos Oz, the real theme of Jewish history--especially in Israel--is unreality. When, and how can a Jew attain reality in the Promised Land, actually touch the water, touch the wind?"

Current and Upcoming Exhibits | Main Gallery Exhibits | Side Gallery Exhibits
Guestbook and Comments | Return to Exhibits Page
Return to Special Collections Home Page