Five Israeli Writers Offer New Voices
Miri or Shiri? Teary or cheery?
Placid old age or perhaps hara-kiri?
A child or a pup? IVF or adopt?
Move to Miami or pick up where you stopped?
At Second Chance, whatever you do—
You can have your cake and eat it too.
By Etgar Keret, translated from Hebrew by Miriam Shlesinger, © 2009. First published in The Nimrod Flip-Out, Picador, Australia, 2004 and Chatto and Windus, U.K., 2008.
They’re young, political, funny, bitter, pessimistic at times, but usually hopeful. They are five young Israeli writers who offer a fresh perspective on Israel. This week, these five unique voices are featured in Guernica magazine, an online bi-weekly account of the crossroads of art and politics.
Etgar Keret, Michal Zamir, Sami Berdugo, Eshkol Nevo and Assaf Gavron are the writers of what some consider the “New Israel.” All of them were born after the Six Day War to a prosperous country. They are the children of founders, the first citizens of “Global Israel” that assimilated into the world but also keep their cultural pride.
“We are defined by who we are not. We are not the established, famous, celebrated older generation of Israeli authors. It is not that we younger writers are not serious; we offer a different tone. Call it lighter, more cutting edge, or daring. Whatever it is, we don’t seem to carry the same weight on our shoulders,” says author Assaf Gavron, who edited the series for the magazine.
To read more (and there’s a lot to read), please click here.
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