📱 eBook en inglés THE CONTINUING SILENCE OF A POET

This new edition of A. B. Yehoshuas novellas and short stories includes two stories which did not previously appear in the hardback edition published in 1988, and no longer includes Mr. Mani which, in the intervening years, has been developed into a prize-winning novel. The development of the authors style can be traced from its dark beginnings in stories such as The Yatir Evening Express, about a village which decides to vent its frustration at its isolation and insignificance on the evening express. Isolation and loneliness are central to Yehoshuas concerns, whether it be peoples isolation from each other, from their community or from their family. The pain of this isolation is intense, as in the title story in which the distance between an ageing poet and his simple son is agonising. In Facing the Forests, a fire-watchers isolation gives rise to deep longings for tragedy – a story which has since been seen to symbolise the relationship between Jew and Arab in Israel. Several of the stories deal with people thrust into positions of responsibility and the feelings of frustration and impotence which ensue are disturbing – murderous even. In Three Days and a Child, a man agrees to care for the three-year old son of a former lover. Those three days are marked by a strange detachment and sadistic, heart-stopping neglect of the child. The stories are ironic and understated, and the pace masterly. This collection confirms Yehoshuas talent as a major short-story writer. He has been awarded the prestigious Israel Prize for his entire œuvre.