Of dreams and disappointment: Oz at 70

In a recent interview with the Daily Forward, Israeli novelist, essayist, literature professor, and peacenik nanpareil Amos Oz describes eloquently the  inevitable disappointment inherent in the Zionist dream: "I have seen the age of monumental dreams, and I have lived through the morning after, and the morning after the morning after. Unlike other countries, Israel was not born through a historical evolution of a population. It was born out of a dream. This is why it is destined to be a disappointment. This is not about the nature of Israel; it’s about the nature of dreams. The only way to keep a dream intact and perfect and rosy and unspoiled is never to live it. The moment you fulfill a dream, there is a certain air of disappointment about it. This is true of planting a garden, traveling abroad, living a sexual fantasy, or writing a novel."

Read the rest of the interview and buy Oz's new novella: Rhyming Life and Death.