Recently, Gertz handed out a book of short stories by Etgar Keret, an Israeli short story writer, to be passed around the class. Keret's stories are very, very bizarre, and are mostly about life in modern day Israel. I liked the stories so much, that I, along with many other students in the class, bought one of his books when we were in Tel Aviv yesterday. The second story in the book is titled Lieland, and it's all about the consequences of the lies you tell. In the story, a lifelong liar, Robbie, has a dream about his dead mother, in which his first lie comes back to spite him. Then, in real life, he travels to a land filled with the embodiment of all the lies he told. After seeing the horrible things he created with his lies, Robbie learns to stop telling such harmful lies, and eventually to stop lying altogether.
Etgar Keret's genius lies in his ability to pack so much into so little words. His stories are about three to four pages each, but so much meaning can be found in each one. At first, everything that happens seems so random and absurd, but when you think about it, it all has a deeper meaning. Through his stories, Keret paints a very clear image of Israeli society. The issues are complicated, but people try to deal with them through simple everyday interactions. So far, Keret is the only Israeli writer that I have read, and I hope to find that others are as entertaining as he is.
I agree with what you said about how Etgar Keret can effect people so much with not that many words. I read "Pipes" which is basically about a man committing suicide but explaining that suicide is for people who believe they do not fit on earth anywhere and when the commit suicide their life actually starts over. Heaven, on the other hand, is for people that no matter what will never fit in and they go to heaven and hang out together and are happy. Then it goes on to say if you are one of those people not to worry because you will think of a way to get to Heaven with the rest of them and in a strange way, it is kind of happy and makes you believe in life a little more. It is saying no matter what, a person will be content whether in life or in the after life. At least that is how I interpreted it.
ReplyDeleteI really like what you said about Etgar Keret, Ben. His overall emphasis on fitting important themes into only a few pages really defines him as one of the best authors I have read so far. While his bizarre stories may be off-putting to some, I find that it only makes the topic better to discuss because it makes it seem much more foreign. I believe a reason why it seems so foreign is because, well, it literally is. In Israel, we've learned about how the Israelis are a fan of much darker comedy relating to things like the Holocaust. Coming from an American perspective, it's really strange to hear such vulgar and grotesque images jammed into only a few pages. That is my opinion on why Keret is so fascinating.
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