Amos Oz

Writer, Activist, Icon

Robert Alter

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Hardback

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English

Yale University
12 January 2024

Biography; Biography: general

Series: Jewish Lives

An intimate portrait illuminating the life and work of Amos Oz, the award-winning Israeli writer and activist

Amos Oz (1939–2018) was one of Israel’s most prolific and prominent writers, as well as a regular contender for the Nobel Prize for Literature. He was the author of dozens of novels, essay collections, and novellas written between 1965 and shortly before his death.

In this first published biography of Oz, the celebrated translator, literary critic, and biblical scholar Robert Alter explores Oz’s relationship with his family, beginning with the suicide of his mother, Fania Klausner, when he was twelve years old, and goes on to review his time in Kibbutz Hulda, which he entered at fourteen following his separation from his father, Arieh Klausner; his family’s right-wing Zionism; his writing career; his activism in support of a pluralistic Israel; and his work as an international lecturer.

In examining Oz’s life and work, Alter brings together testimony from Oz and his circle, as well as close readings of his central works, to present the inner world and public persona of Amos Oz.

By: Robert Alter
Imprint: Yale University
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 210mm, Width: 146mm,
ISBN: 9780300250176
ISBN 10: 0300250177
Series: Jewish Lives
Pages: 200
Publication Date: 12 January 2024
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Robert Alter is professor of the Graduate School and emeritus professor of Hebrew and comparative literature at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the award-winning author of two dozen books, including his three-volume translation of the Hebrew Bible. He lives in Berkeley, CA.

Reviews for Amos Oz: Writer, Activist, Icon

“Concise and compelling.”—Benjamin Balint, Wall Street Journal “Perceptive. . . . A worthy introduction to Oz and his work.”—Publishers Weekly “[A] slender yet perceptive book [that] attempts, among other things, to understand what compelled [Oz] to assume the role of a public intellectual. . . . A complex and considered portrait.”—Liam Hoare, Fathom “[A] magnificent biography . . . an incredibly moving portrait of a complex and contradictory man written with great sensitivity. The book captures the many shadows of Amos Oz.”—Omer Friedlander, Jewish Renaissance “Any new book by Robert Alter is an occasion to celebrate. His latest is especially compelling precisely because he applies his genius for making ancient texts come fully alive to the life and work of a consequential figure of our own times.”—Jonathan Kirsch, The Harlot by the Side of the Road