Salon.com > Daniel Asa Rose

“Suddenly, a Knock on the Door”: Absurdist Israeli stories

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Fans of public radio's "This American Life" have endured no shortage of the breezy yet fully imagined vignettes of Israeli life written and read by Etgar Keret, but long-suffering readers have had to wait four years for his latest collection, "Suddenly, a Knock on the Door." They can be reassured that far more pleasures than perils will reward their patience. In its seemingly random, absurdist pages, a counterfeit shekel ends up having more value than a genuine one, a goldfish possesses the ability to confer magic wishes for good or ill, and stories fold back on themselves so that they present their own sense of déjà vu -- a strange, bedeviling, and often (but not always) happy sensation. Readers may be either put off or enchanted by the playfulness, but at their best the stories convey a sense that the world is knowable on some level we can't verbalize. Nevertheless, we couldn't help but try, and in a flurry of recent emails, we managed to entice Mr. Keret to say a few words about his process.

Inside “Maus”

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Among those of a certain age, is there a soul who doesn't remember how brilliantly "Maus" lit up the night when it burst upon the scene in 1986? A deeply serious comic strip of the Holocaust before the category of graphic novel was common coin, with Jews depicted as timorous mice and Nazis as bestial cats, "Maus" was scandalous in concept, jaw-dropping in execution, and, beneath its transgressive exterior, humbling in its rigorous yet gentle understanding of the victims of one of the seismic events of the 20th century.

Lest you've forgotten any part of this, "Maus" mastermind Art Spiegelman is publishing "MetaMaus" to mark the 25th anniversary of the original. And after a quarter of a century, the work still provokes spellbound fascination and anguish in equal measure.

“Ladies and Gentlemen: Stories”: Human cruelty, explored

Thu, 11 Aug 2011 00:19:00 +0000

Cruelty comes in all kinds of colors. There's blithe cruelty that makes light of itself. Gross cruelty that makes no excuses for itself. Passive-aggressive cruelty (which is really just aggressive cruelty without the courage to admit it). And the coup de cruelty: careless, casual cruelty that cuts so finely it barely leaves a surface wound. But beneath the surface, the damage can be deep indeed.

All these kinds, but mostly the last, are on dark display in the interactions between the characters of Adam Ross' collection of stories, "Ladies and Gentlemen," his first book to be published since his debut novel, "Mr. Peanut," landed last June to wildly mixed reviews. In keeping with his theme, he has chosen the perfect epigraph to introduce a work that addresses the issue in all its guises: "Cruelty, like every other vice, requires no motive outside of itself; it only requires opportunity" (George Eliot).

Bad news dad

Sun, 17 Jun 2007 13:00:00 +0000

I rather enjoy having kids. Again. All over again. After having two boys with my first wife, to raise to adulthood, having two more boys with my new wife, to raise to adulthood. Doing the same things. Mostly the very same things. Day after day. Year after year.

Don't get me wrong, I'm mostly rapturous about doing it again in my 50s. And, it goes without saying, I hold them more dear than life itself. So back off, OK, and let me tell you the few things I rather ... disenjoy ... about doing it again?

Bone-dissolving baby wail in lieu of a drum roll, please.

The devoted attention required for details.

I'm one of those dads who's pretty good at seeing the big picture. Like kids need an inoculation every 10 or 20 years or so. It isn't vital that I be kept in the loop of every detail, say when I'm on the phone trying to assure a prospective baby sitter's mother that there are no molesters in our household while my offspring is talking at me, as follows:

"You know Chandler? That kid in my class? The really, really, really, really, really fat one? With the rat tail hair cut? Who's a pitcher? Well, a really bad pitcher? I mean, he walked 23 batters in a row? Mostly by pitching to the wrong side of them?"

Is “doggie style” hyphenated?

Thu, 20 Jan 2005 18:48:00 +0000

Let us call him "Mr. Green": a varnished old rogue in a stained ascot. At a New York writers party featuring various penniless scribes crushed into a room the size of a janitor's closet, Mr. Green watched as I spoke touchingly of my wife's second pregnancy and the financial burdens presented thereby. Then he asked if I wanted freelance work.

"Copy-editing jerk-off letters for a skin mag," Green said. "Your eyes will glaze over but the money's grand."

It started off pleasantly enough with a phone call the next day.

"Good morning, Daniel. My name is Chastity. I work for Mr. Green at Joystick" (the name of the magazine has been changed).

"Ah yes, how do you do, Chastity."

"Would you prefer 'Butt Busters' or 'Cluster Fuck'?"

We were off to the races.

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