Means of Suppressing Demonstrations

"Means of Suppressing Demonstrations" è il titolo dell'intenso racconto di questa settimana del New Yorker. E' di Shani Boianjiiu, giovane scrittrice israeliana di talento. Interessanti anche le domande di Willing Davidson che la intervista. 

One of the great things in this story is the juxtaposition of desires: Lea suffers from an inability to want anything, whereas the Palestinian demonstrators want, perhaps, too much. How did you come up with this dynamic, and how did it evolve as you were writing?

I think being desireless is one of the lowest places a person can be, and I know that, for myself, when I was in that situation I was truly fascinated by people who wanted things—even if those people were actually in much worse situations than myself, even if the terrible situations those people were in created their ability to have strong desires. I needed the demonstrators to have some power over Lea, so that some of the bizarre events I was planning for the story could unfold. I felt that Lea’s respect for the demonstrators’ strong desires was a way to justify her giving in to some of their wild requests, because when you lack desire completely and see someone else who is able to want something badly, the temptation to gratify them can be very strong, no matter the circumstances. I think it is one of the stranger ways in which what people sometimes call compassion works.

e alla fine,

Could you recommend some Israeli writers that American readers might not be familiar with?

I would recommend Sara Shilo, Eli Amir, and Galila Ron-Feder Amit. newyorker.