"Where the Jackals Howl" by Amos Oz is our next story up for discussion. You can find it in our anthology, The Art of the Story, edited by Daniel Halpern, on page 481. It is also in Oz's collection by the same name.

The following brief biographical information about Oz is from the Jewish Virtual Library at http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsou...

Amos Oz was born in 1939 in Jerusalem. At the age of 15 he went to live on a kibbutz. He studied philosophy and literature at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and was visiting fellow at Oxford University, author-in- residence at the Hebrew University and writer-in-residence at Colorado College. He has been named Officer of Arts and Letters of France. An author of prose for both children and adults, as well as an essayist, he has been widely translated and is internationally acclaimed. He has been honoured with the French Prix Femina and the 1992 Frankfurt Peace Prize. He lives in the southern town Arad and teaches literature at Ben Gurion University of the Negev.

Amos Oz has rooted his writing in the tempestuous history of his homeland. Through his writing, both fiction and nonfiction, runs a common thread: examining human nature, recognizing its frailty but glorying in its variety, Oz consistently makes the plea for an end to ambivalence, for dialogue, for a channelling of passions towards faith in the future. With an economy of words, Oz presents the people of Israel, its political tribulations and biblical landscape. Newsweek writes, “Eloquent, humane, even religious in the deepest sense, [Oz:] emerges as a kind of Zionist Orwell: a complex man obsessed with simple decency and determined above all to tell the truth, regardless of whom it offends.”

I wanted to get the discussion going though I can't post a note about the story itself just now. Will be back later in the day. Meanwhile, please let us know what you think!

Wow, the author leaves a lot out of the story and lets us come to our own conclusion, in my humble opinion. I'm going to wait to see what others surmise before I say anything.

This is the first thing I've read by Oz and I've been thinking about it all morning while I was at the gym. The description of the sunset in the first paragraph after section 2 is one of the most beautiful I've ever read. In fact, throughout the story, I was a bit amazed at how evocative his powers of description are. The images he conveyed of the young jackal caught in the trap had me cringing.

However, his dialogue was distracting in its awkwardness. I didn't believe in a million years that these people would be saying these words. I know I said this in reference to another author recently, but, again, it reminded me of Ayn Rand's dialogue. Maybe dialogue that is written to convey a political message is more likely to fall into this pit.

Beej, my sense was that he was pairing Galila with the young jackal, both of them caught in a trap. Did you think the same? The physical description of Damkov would certainly fit with an adult jackal, but that symbolism doesn't work as well. He knows how to avoid the trap. However, the traps that caught the young jackal was set by the members of the kibutz, I would suppose. Maybe the structure of the kitbutz becomes a trap in some cases?

This interpretation would seem to fit also with the description of Oz's writing from the Jewish Virtual Library. I would imagine that exposing the possibility of this situation in a kibutz was thought to be politically incorrect at the time. What do you think?

Barb, the comparison between galila and the little jackal was fascinating. I sat up and took notice when the young jackal began to lick the trap tht held his paw. And then he ate the bait!

I inferred Damkov told Galila he was her father. Do you believe that, Barb? I did not. Also, did he put something in her coffee? Did he rape her? I just am not sure what was going on.

I'm going to go now and re-read this and see what else I can glean.

Beej, at first I thought he raped her, but now I think he was only telling her that he was her father and tried to have sex with her, but didn't. In the first paragraph of Section 9, it says that "Gaila still stood beside the open window..." (emphasis is mine). In the next to the last paragraph of the section, he leaps across the table to her and after a long, pregnant pause, she pushes him away. My only cause of doubt is those shudders. Surely, that is not supposed to symbolize sex...or spontaneous mutual orgasms? This is one of the sections that reminds me of Ayn Rand.

What a profoundly troubling story. I may have to pretend that I did not read this one.

I cannot figure out who this narrator is. There are a couple of first person statements in this story that fly in out of the blue and seem to be made by a narrator, but who knows?

I think Amos Oz may be every bit as weird as his male protagonist.

Gosh I've been patiently waiting on the Goodreads maintenance to finish today to post this. I had hoped it had got through just before the system went down but alas no so here it is again.

Barb, I agree his powers of description are quite stunning. The dialogue didn't bother me as much as it seems to have got to you.

I'm not at all sure I follow this story and the more I think about it the more I think it has something to do with his circles within circles allusion.

At first took Damkov to be the madden stallion, and yes that works if you think of the possibility of rape, he used wine to madden the horse, has he used it along with his bait of paint materials to lure and seduce Galila, just as he did her mother?

But I think perhaps it also works if you think of the possibility of psychological torment, and there is something about the way the story is written than makes me think Galila is often talking to herself. For example, right at the beginning when she is in the shower, he writes “If there was a big mirror there, I could stand in front of it and look myself over” Oz changes who is talking at various times through the story. At the bottom of page 483 - who is speaking in the bit starting " She won't come" This could be read as being Damkov speaking, but I think it is part of Galila talking to herself.

Is that caused by trauma, or confinement in the kibbutz? The concentric link between his description of the landscape as concentric circles, the sealed kibbutz circle and then the inner circle, the circles of the physical, the country, the kibbutz and the kibbutz society, and the inner family, personal circle.. I’m wondering whether Galila’s inner circle is broken – is she disturbed? She looks at him through her mother not her father’s eyes (although I realize that is also ambiguously written in English, was it so in the original Hebrew) , she sees Damkov as a man, as the stallion, the paints as the bait, herself as the jackal in the trap. If you read Damkov sympathetically he is trying to give her nice things, real coffee, real paints, he tells her he’ll take care of her, take her away from the kibbutz/kokhoz.

Is there a misprint near the bottom of page 490? It reads “quiet dreams and wild drams” Should this be wild dreams? At first reading you think these dreams are Damkov’s but could they be Galila’s, her nightmares, with Damkov acting only as a lens. The “ swarming hordes” of this dream, the noise, clamour and smells of the kibbutz, the dancing jackals, are these all the madness of Galila? Is Where jackals howl actually inside Galila’s head?

And then is Galila’s madness only a metaphor for the madness of tryng to claim back the desert, trying to make the land of Israel in the landscape of the arab? Oz’s political view is anti settlement.

Oh, Sheila, what a wonderful post! This is why I love CR so much. There is always someone who can help me understand a little better.

Or just has a weird reading of it! :)

Well done, Sheila.

One of the "first person statements" that I was having difficulty figuring out was the one about the mirror when Galila was in the shower. You have at least given me a starting point for making sense of this and the story as a whole for that matter.

Happy to oblige, are you going to reread and see if my interpretation makes any sense?

Absolutely, I am. The damned story still troubles me profoundly though.

Steve I agree

I've read it twice now and still can't wrap my brain around it. I think I'm just going to give up and see what you more erudite people come up with.

Sheila, I'm going to miss you when you set out on your travels again. Couldn't you just pack this tiny(!) book of short stories along with you?

I'm going to try and make myself go back and read this again too with your questions and observations in mind.

I'd love to take it with me but it will all depend on packing, even with the extra baggage allowance for VSO it is still only 24kg! I know I travel light but that's not a lot for 2 years! And I need to take pc, camera, chargers etc a s well.

I'm thinking about getting a friend to send out a package of books once I get settled in but as I will spend the first 5 weeks or so in Delhi it will be the end of the year before I have an address. I could always make a copy of some of them to take with me if I can't get it in the bag.

2 years?!? Is this going to be in conjunction with your job?

No Barb, I'm a volunteer. I get a local currency living allowance only. I've known a number of people who have done similar through VSO over the years, although maily as teachers, and always wanted to do it. Nowadays, they are keen to have people with business experience and that's where I come in, as part of what they call their Participation and Governance stream.

This is the first time VSO have worked with this NGO and I'll be the first and for some time at least the only, VSO person there - so new ground for everyone. On paper Shakti has good projects but has a high turnover of staff and local volunteers, with little in the way of back office systems to take information from their projects and to reuse it to aid strategic planning, programme planning, marketing, web site development, and fundraising.

What this will actually mean on the ground is anyone's guess, by the time I'll get there the job description I have will be over 1 year out of date as it has taken a long time for them to get someone matched to this placement. When I saw the placement outline I thought it was a really great match for me and I was quite thrilled when Shakti accepted me. Part of the dififculty has been the rural nature of the placement ( not to everyone's taste) and the warning that there will be little opportunity for social conversations in English, although my boss speaks at least some English. So the challenge will be to learn enough Oriya to make it work out. I've started to try and pick up some Hindi before I go.

I have to stop thinking too much about it sometimes so I don't over worry about what I have let myself in for, but the week after next I'm off for a training course and health briefing and as I approach that everything is starting to seem real. hence trying to get the blog tweaked so I can start to publicise it to folks inthe lead up to departure.

I just commented on your blog, but I am really looking forward to reading it as you experience this, Sheila. I hope you get time to do a lot of writing. I've been traveling vicariously with Steve in Mexico and now I get to "go" to India!

I'm in the middle of listening to Paul Theroux's Ghost Train to the Eastern Star in which he retraces the journey he took in The Great Railway Bazaar. He was in India for a period of time and liked the countryside far better than the cities.

Sheila, what a fabulous adventure! Hope you have a wonderful and fulfilling time. And hope you have an internet connection so you can fill us in on your adventures.

Theresa

Theresa come blog with me at http://ashramblings.blogspot.com

Now come on lets get back to the story - have you guys reread this yet!

Sheila, please download The Art of the Story on your sony reader!

Beej I didn't think to check to see if it was available as an ebook - dah!!

Dash - can't find it available as an ebook

You must stop thinking about yourself so much, Sheila, and start thinking more about us.

:)

I haven't reread the story yet, Sheila, but I will.