David Grossman (Hebrew: דויד גרוסמן) born in Jerusalem on January 25, 1954, is an Israeli author of fiction, nonfiction, and youth and children's literature. His books have been translated into numerous languages. The Yellow Wind, his nonfiction study of the Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip met with acclaim abroad but sparked controversy at home.
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Biography
Grossman studied philosophy and theater at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He worked as a correspondent and radio actor for Kol Yisrael, Israel's national broadcasting service. He was one of the presenters of Cat in a Sack, a children's program broadcast from 1970 to 1984. His book Duel was first aired as a radio drama on Kol Yisrael. Together with Dani Eldar, he hosted the slapstick radio program, Stutz (Yiddish: "that can happen").
Grossman, an outspoken peace activist and well respected by anti-zionists, supported Israel during the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict. On August 10, 2006, however, he and fellow authors Amos Oz and A.B. Yehoshua held a press conference at which they urged the government to agree to a ceasefire that would create the basis for a negotiated solution.
Two days later, his 20-year-old son Uri, a staff sergeant in an armoured unit, was killed by an anti-tank missile during an IDF operation in southern Lebanon shortly before the ceasefire. [1] In a premonitory interview in 2000, he had declared that Israelis support 'a culture of death': "Married couples say, 'We'll have three children, so if one of them dies, there will be two left'." [2]
Grossman lives in Mevasseret Zion on the outskirts of Jerusalem. He is married and the father of three children, Jonathan, 26, Ruth, 15, and the late Uri. He is married to the famed child psychologist, Michal Grossman.
Awards and honours
- In 1984, Grossman won the Prime Minister's Prize for Creative Work;
- In 2004, he was awarded the Italian prize Premio Flaiano[3];
- In 2004, he was a co-recipient (jointly with Haya Shenhav and Ephraim Sidon) of the Bialik Prize for literature[4];
- In 2007, he was awarded the Emet Prize;
- In 2008, he received the Geschwister-Scholl-Preis.
On February 2, 2007, Grossman was awarded the degree of Doctor Honoris Causa by the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium.
Fiction in English translation
- Duel [דו קרב / Du-krav, 1982]. London: Bloomsbury, 1998, ISBN 0-7475-4092-6
- The Smile of the Lamb [חיוך הגדי / Hiyukh ha-gedi: roman, 1983]. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1990, ISBN 0-374-26639-5
- See Under: Love [עיין ערך: אהבה / Ayen erekh—-ahavah: roman, 1986]. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1989, ISBN 0-374-25731-0
- The Book of Intimate Grammar [ספר הדקדוק הפנימי / Sefer ha-dikduk ha-penimi: roman, 1991]. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1994, ISBN 0-374-11547-8
- The Zigzag Kid [יש ילדים זיג זג / Yesh yeladim zigzag, 1994]. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1997, ISBN 0-374-52563-3 - won two prizes in Italy: the Premio Mondello in 1996, and the Premio Grinzane Cavour in 1997.
- Be My Knife [שתהיי לי הסכין / She-tihyi li ha-sakin, 1998]. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2001, ISBN 0-374-29977-3
- Someone to Run With [מישהו לרוץ איתו / Mishehu laruts ito, 2000]. London: Bloomsbury, 2003, ISBN 0-7475-6207-5
- Her Body Knows: two novellas [בגוף אני מבינה / Ba-guf ani mevinah: tsemed novelot, 2003]. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2005, ISBN 0-374-17557-8
Nonfiction in English translation
- The Yellow Wind [הזמן הצהוב / Ha-Zeman ha-tsahov, 1987]. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1988, ISBN 0-374-29345-7
- Sleeping on a Wire: Conversations with Palestinians in Israel [נוכחים נפקדים / Nokhehim Nifkadim, 1992]. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1993, ISBN 0-374-17788-0
- Death as a Way of Life: Israel Ten Years after Oslo [מוות כדרך חיים / Mavet ke-derech khayyim, 2003]. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2003, ISBN 0-374-10211-2
- Lion’s honey : the myth of Samson [דבש אריות / Dvash arayiot, 2005]. Edinburgh; New York: Canongate, 2006, ISBN 1-84195-656-2
Films
- Smile of the Lamb (novel) was the basis for an award-winning film written and directed by Shimon Dotan.
- Someone to Run With (novel) was the basis for a film directed by Oded Davidoff.[5]
See also
References
- ^ http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull&cid=1154525864908
- ^ /http://livres.lexpress.fr/entretien.asp/idC=3089/idR=5/idTC=4/idG=0
- ^ http://www.premiflaiano.it/frame.html
- ^ "List of Bialik Prize recipients 1933-2004 (in Hebrew), Tel Aviv Municipality website". http://www.tel-aviv.gov.il/Hebrew/_MultimediaServer/Documents/12516738.pdf.
- ^ http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3277639,00.html
External links
- Johanna Baum, A Literary Analysis of Tramatic Neurosis in Israeli Society: David Grossman's See Under: Love, Other Voices, vol. 2.1.
- Institute for Translation of Hebrew Literature, David Grossman (bibliography with brief biography). Retrieved January 12, 2005.
- דויד גרוסמן (David Grossman) from the Hebrew-language Wikipedia. Retrieved January 12, 2005.
- Eli ESHED, "Is Naava Home? Naava's Not Home" נאווה בבית? נאווה לא בבית] (Hebrew). Retrieved January 12, 2005.
- Grossman's speech at the Rabin Memorial November 4, 2006 [1] Retrieved November 20, 2006.
- Interview to the french magazine L'Express (France), November 30, 2000
- internationales literaturfestival berlin http://www.literaturfestival.com/bios1_3_6_989.html
- Works by or about David Grossman in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
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