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| Yehoshua Kenaz |
Musical Moments |
| Stories |
Tel Aviv, Hakibbutz Hameuchad/Siman Kriah, 1980; 1995. 160pp.
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Rites of manhood and the disruption of innocence are the prominent themes of the four stories in this collection. But the unabashedly romantic perspective is blended with realistic tones: at every point in the story Kenaz takes an anti-sentimental turn. In each story, the boys discover the magic of evil and the beauty of sin, leading to epiphanic moments of self-realization. The stories perceptively describe how children protect themselves from traumatic experiences.
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About the Book
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Yehoshua Kenaz's single collection of stories confirmed him as one of Hebrew literature's great living prose writers. Publishers Weekly wrote: "Written with great sensuality and passion, these potent stories portray young misfits wandering through a nightmarish adult world. In seamless, rhythmic prose Israeli novelist Kenaz portrays the artists as young men coming of age against a subtly rendered political backdrop of pre-independence Israel." According to Kirkus Review, "Throughout the text, Kenaz snaps with precision the instant-by-instant confrontations of life and its moments of releasing joy or love or beauty." Critic Alice Joyce wrote: "Kenaz's writing is imbued with an enigmatic quality that overlays obvious surface realities and alludes to even more deeply layered truths." Actualite Juive wrote "Kenaz is gifted with a sharp psychological perceptiveness of the human soul." Le Nouveau Quotidien claimed "...The enchanted reader dives into the indescribable times of childhood, and discovers that he, too, experienced the same things."
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