“A horse walks into a bar” A Portrait of Israeli society by David Grossman – L’Express

The comedian Dovale, the main character of “ A horse walks into a bar ” (Threshold) “ was forced to cover themselves with armor vulgarity, rudeness , “said a soft voice the writer met in Paris.

Before the interview begins, David Grossman asks the Prix Goncourt. “ Does my friend Boualem Sansal was selected by the jury ‘” he asked. The Israeli writer and francophone Algerian writer know and believe long time. They both advocate for peace and tolerance.

“ A horse walks into a bar “, the start of a joke which the reader will never know the fall, is the first novel by Israeli writer since death his son, Uri, who died in 2006 in Lebanon during his military service. After this tragedy occurred as David Grossman finished the writing of “ To the End of the Land “, foreign Medicis Prize in 2011, the writer had published only one story in poem form, “ Fallen out of time “.

This new novel speaks again of loss and mourning. In “ To the End of the Land “, a mother left her home in thinking thus avert the announcement of the death of her son went to the front. “ A horse walks into a bar ” evokes him, the travel Dovale, 14 year old, to Jerusalem to attend the funeral of one of his parents.

This is Dovale, became an embittered adult who tells this story. Sarcastic humorist, he provokes his audience, just come to theater to laugh, and leads to this moment his life changed by mixing his pathetic show memories of his own life.

– Second Chance –

“ Dovale is someone whose heart is wounded ” says David Grossman. As spectators attending the show, the reader is baffled by useless provocations Dovale. Far from inspiring compassion, comedian causes weariness and disgust. We laughed his fat jokes and despises himself for laughing.

This is the case of former judge Avishaï, Dovale invited by this pitiful sight. Avishaï experienced Dovale child. He was there when they came to tell her parents that Dovale died without specifying whether it was his father or mother. Avishaï, one of the few buddies Dovale at the time, was there and did nothing.

In resurrecting the past, Dovale may Avishaï will give the opportunity to bring comfort he had not been able to offer some fifty years ago. Laying bare his injury, will Dovale may finally know peace.

“ This is the great gift of literature: a second chance ,” said David Grossman. “ In life it happens very rarely “.

The writer compares Dovale Israeli society. “ In his heart, Israeli society is a moral society, sensitive to pain, humanist “, says the writer. However, he adds, “ she lives a life of violence and brutality “. “ She saw a parallel life of his true self ,” said Grossman quoting from the evils of Israel, “ War, violence, occupation, em > “.

“ The violence instilled in intimate gears of society ” laments deeply the writer and patriot committed to the peace camp.

In Grossman’s novel, the spectators leave the room as Dovale abandons rudeness to become more intimate, more human.

“ But some remain “, Grossman contends. “ There will always be those who will stay and who will accept to have a responsibility towards the wound they saw. There will always be those who will see and feel this injury incurred ” insists -t it. “ From this point of view, analyzes the writer, the novel is also a political story “.