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Magazine
Beyond brutalities
P. ANIMA
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Israeli author Zeruya Shalev focuses on the intricacies of life rather than the violence of her home land.
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I write about Israel’s reality in an indirect way, about the anxieties of living under the shadow of war and terror…
Zeruya Shalev: Subtle nuances and lyrical prose.
“Writing is in my blood,” says Israeli author Zeruya Shalev. Hailing from a family of writers, the art of telling stories came naturally to her. Her four novels and a children’s book in Hebrew have been translated into 25 languages, including Malayalam. Shalev’s novel Love Life is included in Der Spiegel’s list of “20 Best Novels in World Literature” over the past 40 years, where she shares recognition with Saul Bellow and J.M. Coetzee. She has won literary prizes in Germany and France and one of her novels will be immortalised in reel in Germany.
Though based in strife-torn Israel, battling the realities of suicide bombers, attacks and killings, Shalev zealously guards her writing from the “brutal” politics of her times. Her literature shields itself miraculously from the inevitable present — of war, loss, death and aggression — that one would associate with a writer from the political hot-bed. Cocooned, her novels speak of the intricacies of life — the wrenching tales of the heart, tumult of marriage and turbulence of personal lives. Her novels, Husband and Wife, Love Life and Late Family broke barriers in Israeli literature.
No politics
On her first-ever visit to India to take part in the Delhi Book Fair, Shalev explains her decision to cut off the politics of Israel from her works. “Israeli politics is not an inspiration for me. It is not the material for my literature,” says Shalev.
Despite being the victim of a terrorist attack in Jerusalem that scarred her “body and soul”, she blocked it from seeping into the novel she was working on at the time. “It influenced my life, but I did not want to affect my writing which is precious to me. I continued writing as if nothing has happened,” she reasons.
In a land where violence reverberates, Shalev clings on to intimate feelings and thoughts. “In a country like Israel it is important to keep our sensitivity. I don’t write about politics, it’s brutal. I try to write about the nuances of our existence, not our brutality. It is difficult to write about emotions when terror happens all around us,” says Shalev.
However, before one veers to think if she is an escapist, Shalev gently counters. “I confront reality everyday. Literature is deeper than these brutal realities. I write about Israel’s reality in an indirect way, about the anxieties of living under the shadow of war and terror and its influence on relationships in a family,” she explains.
Writing is central to Shalev’s life, an inextricable part of her identity. The fascination with stories and characters dates back to her childhood. Every night was story time as her father, a Bible teacher, read out tales from The Bible. The fondness for the Biblical characters led to a Masters in Biblical Studies. Writing too took roots early.
“I started with poems about my cats and dogs. Later on, I wrote stories about biblical characters. The first novel happened at the age of 11. I often feel like reading that novel once again, but never seem to find the time,” Shalev jests about her childhood effort.
However, the slant towards verse made Shalev pay greater attention to make her prose lyrical. “I try to combine my attraction to poetry with my attraction to prose. My prose is very poetic. The sentences are restless and have a poetic quality,” says the author.
Apart from the style, her narrative too — almost always an intense monologue by the protagonist — is another striking feature of her writing. The monologues open doors to the personal thoughts of the character for the readers.
“I try to concentrate on one person. I feel it is my way of creating intimacy between the reader and the characters. But I find an indirect way to show how the other characters feel through their words and dialogues,” says Shalev. The attempt is to make readers identify with the mental process of the characters, she adds.
Translations
For someone who spins her words so painstakingly, Shalev is objective about the translations of her works, some of which are in languages she finds difficult even to pronounce. “I have to trust my translators. I have travelled and met readers all over the world. Their reaction to the translations was good. If readers in France, Turkey and Germany can identify with a novel and its style, it is a good sign,” explains Shalev.
With her writing outgrowing language hurdles, the author tends to think there is an increasing acceptance of regional literature in the global scene. “It is difficult for an Israeli writer compared to an English or American author. But I think there is an increasing acceptance of Israeli literature, especially when the stories are universal,” says Shalev.
She points out the literary scene at home too is changing.
“Earlier, writers were preoccupied with the matters of the State and national issues. But in the past 10-15 years, many women writers have written about individual issues and are successful too,” she concludes.
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