Dear readers,
“The Crater,” my new piece of short fiction, is the fifth in my series of war stories. But it’s a new departure and an experiment, in a few ways.
First, the first four stories had women as protagonists. This one centers on men. Its main character is Gidi, a sergeant in a reserve infantry unit who was wounded by the same Hamas mortar shell that killed his friend Dvir. Dvir, as you may remember from “The Bridge between Yesterday and Tomorrow,” was the younger son of Etti and Amram Badihi. Gidi has returned to his unit following Dvir’s funeral and treatment for his wounds. The unit is stationed at one of the kibbutzim along the Gaza perimeter where Hamas terrorists slaughtered entire families, abducted others, and turned homes into burnt-out shells. I described this horror in my essay “Books of the Dead,” which serves as a prelude to this series of stories.
Second, you’ll find in “The Crater” not just the darkness and dread of the earlier stories, but also comedy. After more than two and a half months of war, our lives here in Israel (and the lives of the Palestinians in Gaza) are still dark and dreadful. But, as I noted in my last newsletter, tragedy loses its power if it stretches on too long. The darkness and blood of Macbeth is relieved, for a short time, by the Porter’s monologue, which makes the darkness all the darker when the cycle of murder and revenge resumes. I hope I’m striking the right balance here.
Third, you’ll notice that “The Crater” doesn’t have an ending. Indeed, it says “to be continued” where the ending should be. This is the beginning of an experiment in reviving an old form, the serial novel. The plan is to publish a new installment each week of a longer narrative in which not only these soldiers but also the women from the first four stories will play a part. I don’t know if it will work and reserve the right to bale out if I need to. But I’m curious about whether I can keep up my pace and your interest. Inevitably there will be bumps along the way, inconsistencies, second thoughts. But that is part of the fun and I hope you’ll indulge me.
Fourth, I’m ecstatic to be collaborating again with the talented artist Avi Katz, who provided illustrations for many dozens of my Necessary Stories over my years publishing them in The Jerusalem Report and The Times of Israel. In keeping with the genre, Avi has provided a line drawing of the type that appeared alongside the great serial novels of yesteryear, like those of Dickens. I hope he’ll be providing more of these, for future installments.
Collaboration is part and parcel of writing, and I don’t mean just with an artist. Before I post my stories I make sure to have them read by a fellow-writer, and they receive a further going over from the editors at The Times of Israel. Over the years I’ve received great advice and encouragement from a number of writer friends, but two in particular have been important in this series, Dalia Rosenfeld, who herself writes wonderful short fiction, and Michael Kramer, a talented teacher and writer. His translation of S. Y. Agnon’s classic novella And the Crooked Shall Be Made Straight is worth your attention. Both of them are honest and supportive critics and I’d be at a loss without them.
Hoping for besorot tovot, good tidings.
Haim
PS—Last time I asked you if you could identify the famous Hebrew poem from which I took the title of “The Bridge between Yesterday and Tomorrow.” No one guessed right, perhaps because the phrase also appears in another famous poem. The one I had in mind, however, was Balayla Ba Hamevaser (“The Herald Came at Night”), by Rachel Bluwstein, known in Israel simply as “Rachel the Poetess.” I won’t even attempt a translation of this chilling lyric. If you don’t know Hebrew, you’ll have to take my word for it.