Israeli Stories : a selection of the best contemporary Hebrew writing / edited by Joel Blocker ; introduction by Robert Alter

"Introduction : Robert Alter -- Tehilah : S.Y. Agnon -- Sermon : Haim Hazaz -- Name : Aharon Megged -- Parched earth : Yoram Kaniuk -- Roll of canvas : Benjamin Tammuz -- Prisoner : S. Yizhar -- Next of kin : Moshe Shamir -- Battle for the hill : Yehuda Amihai -- Forevermore :S.Y. Agnon."

The present volume of Israeli stories reassuringly illustrates the other half of a frequently asserted half-truth. Modern Hebrew literature, it is claimed, liked Yiddish literature, does not really share the large concerns of serious literary activity in the West. The Hebrew writer ordinarily does not address himself to the human situation with all of its far-reaching possibilities of tragedy of comedy, but to the Jewish situation, which is quite another thing. Consequently, Hebrew and Yiddish writers so goes the claim develop a system of typology rather than methods of characterization, for they are most essentially interested in the Jewish people, its particular qualities and its present fate or ultimate destiny, while the individual, who is central in other modern literatures, stands at the periphery of their vision.