• THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS .11 Friday, May 24, 1985 37 eleganZa bout que experimental language, more in- novation in forms. A second direc- tion for me is in digging more into human psychology, using it in a literal rather than in a symbolic context. How do you define yourself as a writer? I divide writers into two groups: writers of the "world," and writers of the "subject." Writers of the "world" — Faulkner is a good example — create and people a "world," and in their stories their characters live in that "world," and you always know precisely where you are with them. Appel- feld is a "world" writer in that sense; he has created a certain "world" of the Holocaust, and he has a commitment to it. "Subject" writers have a com- mitment only to the subject of a given book. The subject changes from book to book. Of course, there are aspects of "world" in "subject" writers. Take Saul Be- llow, for example. Even though he locates his scenes in a familiar world, often Chicago, he nonethe- less moves from subject to subject. Proust is another "world" writer, while Dostoevsky and Camus are "subject" writers. Joyce is a mix- 'For me, the Diaspora is the great failure of the Jewish people." ture of the two, with a tendency more to "world" than to "subject." I am more a writer of the "sub- ject." I would be happy if I had a "world," but I don't. You mentioned Appelfeld a moment ago. How do you relate to writers in Israel, your contem- poraries? I respect Appelfeld very much. We started together. I remember the time he read me his first story. He has introduced aesthetics into the writing about the Holocaust. Before Appelfeld, the subject of the Holocaust had produced very bad literature. Why was it bad? The situation of the Holocaust was always one of black and white. There was no possibility of using humor. Reality always out- stripped the wise fantasy of the writer. It outstripped the imagi- nation. Holocaust writing was always "victim" literature, the accusers and the killers, the con- frontation between the Germans and Jews. it did not deal with the relations between the Jews them- selves. Appelfeld dealt with those relations and opened up new pos- sibilities for treating the Holocaust in literature. And he found the proper style to do it. What other writers are you close to? Amos Oz. Though our writing is different, we are closest friends. We have the same ideological be- liefs about the Diaspora, and Is- rael as a topic in our writing, but we write independently. We were born two- streets away from each other — he is younger than me — so we feel like brothers to one an- other. He sends his drafts to me and I send my drafts to him. It is really a very close, warm rela- tionship. What about women writers? We now have quite a number of women writers and the best of them is Amalia Kahana Carmon, a short story writer and novelist. Her work is fine and delicate; she has a kind of technique like Vir- ginia Woolf s. Because she is so sensitive and knowledgeable about languages, including English, she has not yet approved any translations of her work and, therefore, she's not known in America and that's a pity. How do you feel about Amichai's poetry? Amichai is an excellent poet, I like his poetry very much. I hope that if we have another Nobel prize awarded to an Israeli writer, he will be the man to get it. How do you feel about Amichai's poetry? Amichai is an excellent poet, I like his poetry very much. I hope that if we have another Nobel prize awarded to an Israeli writer, he will be the man to get it. Who else do you consider impor- tant? Yacov Shabtai. Unfortunately, he died recently at the age of 48. HisPast Continuous has attracted a lot of attention. The Jewish Pub- lication Society recently pub- lished a translation. He was a fine and interesting writer and de- serves to be widely read. Also, there is another writer, now 70 and unknown in America. His name is Samech Yzhar. His Days of Tiklag is a masterpiece. It is a novel about the War for Indepen- dence, and is one of the master- pieces of war literature of all time. He used a stream of consciousness technique, doing for groups what Joyce did for individuals. His novel is unique, and I think it is the single most important Israeli work we have. Your recent speech entitled "Diaspora - The Neurotic Solu- tion" to the Board of Governors of the American Jewish Committee convened in Israel has been widely reported in the American Jewish press, and it has attracted a lot of attention. How did you come to ob- ject so strongly to Jews' living out- side of Israel? Sometime ago I wrote on Zionism calledBetween Right and Right. It tries to analyze the phe- nomenon of Diaspora. I have been obsessed with the question of exile for a long time, trying to under- stand why it has dominated Jewish history. In my research I discovered that exile had never been forced and that over history Jews went by their own will into the Diaspora. The phenomenon of exile is, of course, ancient and Biblical. We think of Abraham and Jacob. I was astonished to realize that dis- persion was not forced but under- taken voluntarily. For me Dias- pora is the great failure of the Jewish people; I regard the Holocaust as a consequence of the Diaspora. We have paid too much for it, and we will go on paying through the continuous loss of our people, We are doomed to lose more and more. Welcomes spring, summer & you with a great sale ... 30% OFF ALL SPRING AND SUMMER MERCHANDISE! Eleganza Welcomes You to a Great Summer Sal& Including belts, purses and accessories! Sale Ends May 31. Some selections are limited Suede and leather goods are not included OPEN: Mon., Tues., Wed., Fri. and Sat. 10:00 to 5:30..Thurs. 'til 8:00 P.M. 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