David Grossman, our very own world-famous author
Op-ed: The winning novel of the 2017 Man Booker International Prize represents not only an author with an unusual ability to write, filled with compassion and humor, but also Grossman's upbringing: A childhood in Jerusalem as the son of Holocaust survivors.
Grossman, the announcement proves, is as good as any world-famous author. And the winning book represents not only an author with an unusual ability to write, filled with compassion and humor, but also Grossman's upbringing: A childhood in Jerusalem as the son of Holocaust survivors.
This isn’t the kind of book that could have been written anywhere. The issue isn’t universal. Nevertheless, there is likely no one who can’t identify with the monologue of stand-up comic Dovale Gee, the only son of Holocaust survivors, who takes the stage in a shabby bar in Netanya’s industrial zone to share the story of his childhood and his life with the audience, sometimes with vulgarity, sometimes with heartbreaking pain, and without any mercy.
Grossman’s writing is personal, but it’s never isolated from the events of the time and place. In an interview I did with him two weeks ago, I asked him what he thought literature could contribute to politics.
“Mainly the willingness to see and experience reality from the other’s point of view, even if the other is your enemy,” Grossman said. “That’s what drives me when I write—to experience another person from the inside.”
