I Think Tone Gives Birth

My Father - I Once Asked Him What Was His Greatest Achievement. He Said His Greatest Achievement Was That He Fought In Five Wars In The Infantry, Always On The Front Line, And Never Hurt Anybody.

Generally, All My Life, I Have Had Strong Friction With Life - I Was A Problematic Soldier, I Was Kicked Out Of The Army, I Was In Fights. There Was Something About Writing That Was A Way Of Experimenting With This Emotion.

In Israel, The Role Of The Writer Is Dictated By The Language In Which You Write. Writers See Themselves As Cultural Prophets.

Most Of Them Were Murderers. But When I Went There To Talk, They Were The Nicest People. I Did A Reading. I Said, "thank You," And Then They Said To Me, "could You Talk Some More?" And I Said, "why?" And They Answered, "most Of Us Are In Solitary Confinement, So The Moment You Finish Talking, They Take Us Back To Our Cells. We Like Hanging Out Here Together."

All My Writing-life People Kept Telling Me That I Should Stop Writing Short Stories And Start Writing Novels: My Agent, My Israeli Publisher, My Foreign Ones, My Bank Manager - They All Felt And Keep Feeling That I'm Doing Something Wrong Here.