Somber Lust: The Art of Amos Oz Yair Mazor State University of New York Press Somber Lust SUNY Series in Modern Jewish Literature and Culture Sarah Blacher Cohen, Editor Somber Lust The Art of Amos Oz   Y M Translated by Marganit Weinberger-Rotman       On the cover: Pablo Picasso, Spanish (worked in France), 1881–1973. Detail from La Vie, 1903. Oil on canvas, 196.5 (cid:1) 129.2 cm. (cid:2) The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of the Hanna Fund, 1945.24. Used with permission. Published by State University of New York Press, Albany (cid:2) 2002 State University of New York All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher. For information, address State University of New York Press, 90 State Street, Suite 700, Albany, NY 12207 Production by Judith Block Marketing by Anne Valentine Library of Congress Control Number Mazor, Yair, 1950– [Lituf ba-afelah. English] Somber lust : the art of Amos Oz / by Yair Mazor ; translated by Marganit Weinberger-Rotman. p. cm. — (SUNY series in modern Jewish literature and culture) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-7914-5307-3 (alk. paper) — ISBN 0-7914-5308-1 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Oz, Amos—Criticism and interpretation. I. Title. II. Series. PJ5054.O9 Z7813 2002 892.4(cid:3)36—dc21 2001032203 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Oh, tho se wor ds o f mi ne, The sad and sunny nails of my life. —Yehuda Amichai, Poem no. 10, in Time (trans. Yair Mazor) To Yael and Bilha to my late parents Rachel and Itzhak and to Sarah Rosentzweig I do love you all very dearly, and I find comfort in your love. The Sonnet of the Sleeve of the Landscape The sleeve of the landscape Was folded over the arm of the shore. The cheekbones of the ocean rose in the storm, Your face burnt in the dark. You had tickets for Hollywood and Sodom, A velvet curtain covered the dream. With a rusty needle you sewed a starlet’s dress And dead birds adorned your hair like a ribbon. You wrapped the moon in blue paper You could only fall down from the cotton clouds. The mist pierced The remnants of the light And when you were gone, you left behind a souvenir: a hair In the sink. (Ronny Someck, trans. Marganit Weinberger-Rotman) Contents Acknowledgments xi 1. Introduction: Mapping Poetics, Documenting Ideology, and Above All, Being Motivated by Love 1 2. Since the Jackals’ Lament Carries the Sound of Yearning: Intertextuality and Deconstruction in “Nomads and Viper” 7 3. The Father, the Son, and the Blowing of the Ill Wind, or Writing Strindberg from Right to Left 17 4. The Spy Who May Never Come in from the Cold: A Discussion of To Know a Woman 53 5. At Last, the Secret Double Agent Takes Off His Gloves and Removes the Mask: A Discussion of A Panther in the Basement 91 6. Essays Are Sometimes Masked Aesthetics: A Discussion of Under This Blazing Light 131 7. Some Rest at Last. Tracing a Literary Motif: The Motif of the Picture in A Perfect Peace and Beyond 139 8. Amos Oz Talks about Amos Oz: “Being I, Plus Being Myself”— An Interview with Hillit Yeshourun 159 Notes 195 vii viii Contents Bibliography 199 Index of Literary and Critical Works 203 Index of Authors and Artists 205 And if it is necessary to focus one’s gaze and remain on the lookout for hours and days, perhaps even for years, well, there is nothing better to do anyway. Hoping for a recurrence of one of those rare, unexpected moments when the darkness is mo- mentarily lifted, and there comes a flicker, a fleeting glimmer, which one must not miss, one must not be caught off guard. Because it may signify something that makes us ask ourselves what else is there. Besides rapture and humility. —Amos Oz, To Know a Woman (trans. Yair Mazor)