It's funny, but I think my stories - the good ones - they're much smarter than I am. Etgar Keret More Quotes by Etgar Keret More Quotes From Etgar Keret As the son of Holocaust survivors, this is life - you're put in a corner, and you have to get out. I believe that you can always get out. Etgar Keret holocaust believe son If you were to do the world championship of victimhood in modern times, then the finals would probably be between Jews and Palestinians. I think the Jews win: we, Isralians, go from the Spanish Inquisition to pogroms to the fake Protocols of the Elders of Zion to World War II and the Holocaust - it's a horrible history. And if you look at the Palestinian world, victimized by every entity in the Middle East, they were massacred in every country. I think that, in Israel, the greatest fear that people have, and I have it, too, is this fear of genocide. Etgar Keret winning war country When my works are being translated, I always get this question from my translators: Up or down? Which means, should it sound biblical and highbrow, or should we take it all down to sound colloquial? In Hebrew, it's both all the time. People in Israel would write in a high register, they wouldn't write colloquial speech. I do a special take on colloquial speech. Etgar Keret biblical writing mean What connects me so strongly to Israel is the fact that I'm second generation. My parents said, "We have a place where we can just be ourselves and nobody says, 'Don't tell me your opinion, you damn Jew, go somewhere else.'" Then you go to this country and other Jews tell you to shut up. It's frustrating. I think that we have a bad government and that some people are fearful. They're going with the class bully. But I really truly believe - you read it in my stories - that deep inside, people have goodness. Etgar Keret believe country thinking People usually don't allow you to cut off their tongue. Etgar Keret tongue cutting people I think that becoming a parent kind of made me try to be more responsible. And it made me much more stressful. Etgar Keret parent trying thinking The moment that you have a child - that you know that when he'll turn 18, he'll join the Army and go there for three years of compulsory service - then you can't help yourself of thinking about the future - speculating about it, dreading it or even being - trying to be more active to change it and improve it. Etgar Keret army children thinking I think that before my son was born, I didn't have a strong sensation for future. I was living in this kind of never-ending present. Etgar Keret strong son thinking Life is one heck of an invention. It is better than the iPhone 4S and Coke Zero combined. Etgar Keret coke iphone zero Life keeps being a beautiful and frustrating experience. Etgar Keret frustrating beautiful I write what needs to be written the way that seems genuinely right. If what comes out of it are stories, then it is my vocation to believe in them and in the fact that they'll interest people and maybe affect their lives. Etgar Keret writing believe people Hebrew is this unique thing that you cannot translate to any other language. It has to do with its history. Etgar Keret hebrew language unique When my books were translated, it was always about the characters, because the unique language aspect was lost in translation. Etgar Keret unique character book Hebrew was frozen, like frozen peas, fresh out of the Bible. Etgar Keret peas hebrew frozen Apparently, I'm very, very popular in jails. They often ask me to come and speak. Etgar Keret ask-me jail speak I really believe hatred is not a primal emotion, in that you can't find it in nature. It's basically some kind of distortion of fear. Etgar Keret emotion hatred believe Nobody else in the world would look at writing as craftsmanship - it's totally this Protestant hardworking ethic. You go into this kind of infinite space of imagination and you fence yourself in with all kinds of laws. Etgar Keret space law writing The best stories you usually hear are stories that people feel some type of urgency about. Etgar Keret type stories people Often in writing programs, articulation and clarity are more important than what you actually say. Etgar Keret clarity important writing In America, where writers are preoccupied with the craft of writing, I always try to introduce this concept of the badly written good story. Turning the hierarchy around and putting passion on top and not craft, because when you just focus on craft, you can write something that is very sterile. Etgar Keret passion writing america
