Arnon Grunberg

Tragedy

Chekhov

Roger Cohen about his conversation with Amos Oz:

‘Two final thoughts from Oz worth the consideration of Israeli politicians: On the nature of tragedy and the nature of time.
“The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a clash of right and right. Tragedies are resolved in one of two ways: The Shakespearian way or the Anton Chekhov way. In a tragedy by Shakespeare, the stage at the end is littered with dead bodies. In a tragedy by Chekhov everyone is unhappy, bitter, disillusioned and melancholy but they are alive. My colleagues in the peace movement and I are working for a Chekhovian not a Shakespearian conclusion.”’

(Read the complete article here.)

More than ten years ago (in 1998 or 1999) I was on stage with Amos Oz in Germany, and if I’m not mistaken he said something along these lines. Of course, the audience loved him for this.

But the irony is that to the best of my knowledge the peace movement in Israel has become a small sect for some elderly men and women with a European background -- people who actually read Herzl.

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