Although David Grossman (b. 1954) was not born to survivor parents, and he himself is a native of Israel, Holocaust has been and continues to constitute a major motif in his prolific literary output. His work consists of documentary journalism, particularly concerned with Israel-Palestine conflict, and of fiction, both short and long. One of outstanding features of his writing is that much of his focus devolves upon view of child, which serves to heighten sense of discovery and wonder in his fiction. An observer, as it were, happens on an event for first time, and becomes passionately interested in learning all is to know about it. For an adult, such material may well be marked by familiarity and overexposure, whereas, for child, it is necessarily seen afresh, as range of his experience is so limited. Such is case for two major subjects of Grossman's opus: Palestine conflict and Holocaust. They are also basic themes that underlie contemporary Israeli existence. They provide ballast and raison d'etre as well as major obstacles and difficulties for Jewish presence in land. Israeli existence is problematic and tragic as well as challenging and exciting. This is what Grossman attempts to convey, often through eyes of a firstor third-person child protagonist, in fiction rich in plot construction as well as racy journalism, all based on timbre of human voice and pain of experienced history. We may ask if is a literary common denominator betw en two major historical concerns, and if they are linked by a un fying narratorial thread. There are additional works of his, of course, in which neither of two motifs is appar nt, and y t pose similar interrogation. His autobiographical work, Sefer hadiqduq hapnimi (1991; Eng. The Book of Intimate Grammar, 1994), seems to reflect much of his own life and that f child growing up in Israel. The play Gan riqi (1988, Ricki' garden), as well as Yesh yeladim zigzag (1997; Eng. The Zigzag Kid, 1997) and Mishehu laruts ito (2000; Eng. Some ne t Run With, 2003), deal primarily with child growing into aturity and seeking adventure. These seem to be traditio al ex mples of bildungsroman, in which h ro ets out in life to find out things for himself, armed with little experience and resources, and then emerges rewarded by experi nce and enriched by life itself. But this form is employed with unexpected and innovative variation in author's great Holocaust work, Ayen erekh: ahavah (1986; Eng. See Under: Love, 1990). In this novel, protagoni t of first lead-in section, child Momik, sets out to discover truth of what is known in his home as the Nazi beast, as well as truth about what took place there (i.e., in those lands where Holocaust raged). The fact r in common between these diverse expressions, as well as in journalism treating conflict over land, is
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Aug 1, 2013
Almuth Grésillon + 2
Open Access
