Amos Oz

The death of Amos Oz, Israeli novelist, activist, and essayist, is very sad. His novels and his memoir, A Tale of Love and Darkness, are wonderful books; I have not read all of them, but have read many. He wrote with great insight about a newly-founded country full of optimism and idealism. His books reflected his own experience of leaving his family when he was an adolescent and joining a kibbutz, itself an exercise in optimism. Unfortunately, he saw the decline of Israel's collective optimism and the consequences of its loss, as well as his own declining influence with his fellow Israelis. Most of the obituaries I've read stress that no one can take his place. Fortunately his legacy is strong and I hope it will be lasting.