A Man Stands Behind a Seated Woman
One of Levin’s stories opens with “A man stands behind a seated woman” and goes on, “Her breasts are bare.” But the man is immobile because he is her manservant. In his most recent prose, Hanoch Levin introduces a carnival of male servants, men who are not personalities in their own right. They all seek to belong to someone, usually a woman, and to achieve this they totally subjugate themselves to the will of others. In this mixture of stories, essays, philosophical musings, correspondence and even stage directions, Levin pokes fun at the myth of love.
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“ The book moves from brilliant, grotesque humor to linguistic achievements virtually unrivalled by any other Hebrew writer.”
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“ I love Hanoch Levin above all because he does not hate the reader, and maybe even loves him....His work...is humanistic, brilliant, penetrating, funny. Most importantly, there is an absurd sense of love.”