Uncle Peretz Takes Off

by Yaakov Shabtai, Dalya Bila (Translator)

A collection of stories by the award-winning author of Past Continuous and Past Perfect features Israelis on the brink of independence in 1940s Tel Aviv, from a refugee on the run from his creditors, to a ribald nude model. Reprint.

Genres: Short Stories, Israel

239 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1972

About the author

Yaakov Shabtai (Hebrew: יעקב שבתאי) was born in Tel Aviv. After his military service, he moved to a kibbutz and started to write. Ten years later, he returned to Tel Aviv with his family and devoted himself to his literary career. He wrote two novels, a book of short stories, a children`s book, two collections of plays and a collection of poems and ballads.
Shabtai holds a unique place in Hebrew literature. His novel, Past Continuous, is considered one of the high points of modern Hebrew fiction. It received the Kenneth B. Smilen Award for Literature and is included in "The 100 Greatest Works of Modern Jewish Literature" (2001). In 2007, Past Continuous topped the list of the most important as well as "best loved" books since the creation of the State of Israel.
Yaakov Shabtai was awarded the prestigious Agnon Prize posthumously. His work has been published abroad in 10 languages.

Reviews

[Jordan St. Stier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Highly entertaining, often discordant stories of a shaky period in a shaky age.

[Leka · Rating 5 out of 5]

La "mia" copertina è diversa, perché è diversa la casa editrice che lo pubblica (Theoria).

E' un libro "diverso", letto diversamente (iniziato su una panchina, in uno dei parchi di Gerusalemme, mentre scende la sera di uno -dei tanti- shabbat).

Un libro che mi ha conquistata, per la scrittura di frammenti di storia quotidiana, che sono la vita.

[Myra Leysorek · Rating 3 out of 5]

I struggled to get through this book, but I really liked the final two stories and I wonder if I started again, I'd get more from the rest of it. I chose it because I'd read he is a favorite author of Nell Zink.

[Hagai Palevsky · Rating 4 out of 5]

הלוא כבר הייתי כאן. הלוא כל זה כבר התרחש פעם.