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"I always observe people though their
language. I think language is very per-
sonal, intimate. It's always intriguing to
see where the intimate touches the
cliche, how easy it is to see how people
adopt cliches, formulate inner lives on
clichés from the media."
He explains that what Yair and
Miriam manage to do is go beyond
describing their inner lives with exterior
language, and begin employing a private
set of words. 'After a while, they flow
quite freely in each other's language."
For Grossman, this ,novel was a partic-
ular challenge because of its unusual
structure, and he rewrote it 28 times
from beginning to end.
At first, he had Yair's and Miriam's let-
ters in response arranged in a kind of
chronological order, but felt that too
much was told. Now, with Yair's letters
making up the bulk of the novel, the
rhythm is very different and, as he
explains, "This avoids some of the prob-
lems that epistolary novels usually have,
the machinery of correspondence."
He adds, "The reader has to do the
journey with me. I had to create Miriam
in the cracks in Yair's letters."
On His Writing
Be My Knife has nothing to do with
Israel's political landscape. A passing ref-
erence to the Dolphinarium, the Tel
Aviv spot where more than 20 young
people were killed by a suicide bomber
last June, jumps out at a reader, but
Grossman is taken by surprise when it is
mentioned.
The book was written between 1994
and 1998, and the line described a casu-
al visit to the Tel Aviv beach.
The recipient of many literary awards,
Grossman writes in Hebrew, a language
he feels very connected to because,
among other reasons, "one can invent
easily in Hebrew. It's very permissive and
surrenders itself easily if you want to play
with it."
He explains that he visualizes every
scene he writes, and his background in
theater and radio help in his writing and
rewriting. Frequently, he writes the
same scene from many points of view
and combines the best nuances in a sub-
sequent draft.
For the past 10 years, he's been study-
ing weekly in hevrutah, the traditional
style of learning Jewish texts with a corn-
panion. His study partners, "who are like
family," are a male friend with a yeshivah
background and a woman who also has
some religious training. He's the most
secular of the group.
They've studied the books of Genesis
and Exodus as well as some Talmud. He
says that "this dealing with Jewish
.
thought and Jewish dialectics" has deep-
ened his writing,
Both dreams and nightmares also
inform Grossman's work. "I like to go to
sleep with some unfinished business in
my writing," he says, and notes that he
often wakes up with writing all over his
palms, words that are hard to decipher.
It's not surprising to hear the author
declare that he lives an active memory
life. "Our memories come to life when
they touch reality," he notes. "Our soul
is such an echo box."
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Yearning For Peace
In addition to his novels, Grossman has
written two widely discussed works of
nonfiction, The Yellow Wind and Sleeping
on a Wire: Conversations with Palestinians
in Israel.
His new novel, already published in
Israel, is set in Jerusalem — the
Jerusalem of the streets and of homeless
children, not necessarily the city that
tourists are aware of
It's very much a book set in the exteri-
or world, after spending so much time
"diving into myself" Now there are
organized tours in Jerusalem related to
the novel.
Conversation inevitably winds to the
current situation in Israel. His cell phone
never far from his hand, Grossman is
anxious to get back to his family in
Jerusalem; he has a son in the army,
another in high school and a young
daughter.
Known for his outspokenness on the
left, he says he'd happily give up speak-
ing out and would instead gladly
devote more time to writing books, but
feels that it's "insulting to allow
extremists to take over, to dictate fears.
The whole point of creating Israel was
that we'd never again be victims. Now
we are victims of our fear, our trauma.
I can't bear it.
"I have a clear idea of what I want
Israel to be. The policies of the right
wing take it in the other direction. Not
that I underestimate the dangers Israel
faces. We're in a tough neighborhood,
not surrounded by the Salvation Army.
The Arabs don't want us here, but we are
here to stay. The ultimate concern is
how to make our being here possible
and safe."
Grossman, who speaks Arabic fluently,
maintains his contacts with Palestinians
and is involved in several initiatives. "I
do believe that people from both sides
can form an alternative to what prevails
now. We have to keep tunnels open
between us and the Palestinians."
He speaks of preparing "drawer plans"
for a time of peace. ❑
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