April 21, 2009
Israel to celebrate Amos Oz’s 70th birthday
As we approach his 70th birthday celebration, we can expect to see more and more about one of Israel’s foremost authors, Amos Oz.
He officially becomes a septuagenarian on May 4 and there will be a three-day celebration in Arad, Israel where President Shimon Peres will be in attendance on the opening night, according to Ha’Aretz. Later in the month, Ben-Gurion University will host a conference in honor of the author.
If you can’t make it to Israel for the festivities, there are two new books out that may help you feel like a true fan of Oz’s work.
First, Oz has come out with a new novella, “Rhyming Life and Death.” The New York Times’ Ethan Bonner called it a “somewhat brutal look at the life and sensibility of a literary celebrity.”
There’s also “The Amos Oz Reader,” a 400-page compendium of Oz’s work that draws from his novels as well as his nonfiction writing.
I was bored by the recent profiles of Oz I read in the Times and in Ha’Aretz (he seemed pretty bored by the interviews as well).
But, I’m always intrigued by the writing habits of authors and Ha’Aretz asked that obligatory question. Oz said he gets up at five without an alarm clock, sits down to write by six and continues writing until noon. In the afternoon, he eats and reads a bit and then goes back to his desk “to erase what I wrote in the morning,” he says.
I was surprised to learn that Oz always uses a pen for his first drafts. Here’s more from the interview in Ha’Aretz:
“I always write with a pen. I have a computer nearby, on the side, and when I’ve finished writing many drafts, I type very slowly with two fingers because I don’t know how to touch-type. I type myself because no one else can read my handwriting. But I always write with a pen for sensual reasons, the arc between the pen and fingers, and the paper, the erasures and scribbles. You can’t do that on a computer.”
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