A different Israeli literature is possible

A young literary consciousness of Israel
Nir Baram faces Jewish clichés with the first novel in Hebrew about WW2 without focusing on the Holocaust

There is something intensely challenging in Nir Baram. in his work and his personality. In rebellion, he has done something that only an Israeli without fear can do. He has offered his country a novel portraying the pre-World War II horrors so disturbing: without portraying monsters or tell their bloody crimes, leaving barely seen the death of millions. Good people in Baram’s novel subject the course of history by two special human beings, full of talent and sensitivity. They tempt the reader with their fascinating personalities, and tragically end up choosing to be collaborators of the great evils of the twentieth century by a cruel and soulless opportunism. Their decisions have devastating effects and engulf themselves and the dignity of an entire generation.

To the full on-line article:

Nir Baram was chosen as one of the 50 most interesting personalities in the Middle East by the Italian magazine Secolo Nuovo

WORLD SHADOW first publication outside of Israel will be in SPANISH BY AlfAGUARA on the 26/3/2015. In Israel the novel spent 4 months in the Best Seller list, including number 1, sold 20,000 copies, chosen as the book of the year by TIME-OUT magazine and Maariv newspaper, received raving reviews and was in the list of the Sapir prize.

“Nir baram, the most important young writer in Israel today, in an interview for our special report about Israel in ZDF national German TV. Baram talks about literature, protest and israel future”

The NRC, Nederland leading newspaper, published its selection for the best 50 novels of the last 5 years: Barams novel was chosen with books by Bolano, Franzen, Murakami, John Williams and others

At the 13.11 Nir Baram had a reading in Berlin with the German writer Olga Grjasnowa. Baram read from his novel “Good people” and Grjasnowa read from her new novel in German “Die juristische Unschärfe einer Ehe”

“The critical praise which have been showered on this book is like a writer’s wildest dream. A German newspaper said, “Dostoyevsky would write like this if he lived in Israel today.” Except that feelings of guilt are, as explained, less of an issue than careerism, it isn’t too much of an exaggeration. In its specifically Stalinist setting, Solzhenitsyn also comes to mind.”

Five stars and great review about “Good People” in one of Denmark most important newspapers: Berlingske…

“What would we have done if we did live in that part of the world? It is inevitably a recurring question while reading Nir Barams masterful novel ‘Good people’. In his beautiful novel of two main characters and a host of other tragic secondary characters – give the Israeli writer Nir Baram a vivid depiction of life under Nazism and Communism in 1930s. The novel is a freezing depiction of moral decay…”

Outstanding review about “Good People” in one of Argentina most important newspapers “La Nación” by the acclaimed write José María Brindisi

“Sobre estos dos ejes argumentales, que son en verdad dos readaptaciones siniestras, avanza la novela del escritor israelí Nir Baram que, al momento de su publicación -en 2010-, tenía apenas treinta y cinco años. El dato es significativo, o más bien sorprendente, no sólo por la penetración psicológica que el autor obtiene respecto de sus personajes, construida a partir de innumerables pliegues y vaivenes, y alejada por tanto de cualquier sombra arquetípica, sino también por el conocimiento minucioso -y la naturalidad con que se despliega- de las estructuras de ambos Estados, de sus aparatos jerárquicos y entramados burocráticos. Con todo, lo que más llama la atención es el tono -incluso por la extensión, por el hecho de sostenerlo durante más de quinientas páginas- con que se cuenta la historia, siempre cargado de un fino tamiz humorístico, que nunca llega a distanciarse de lo real y así lo revela en sus aristas más feroces..”

World Shadow is in the list for the Sapir Prize 2014. The Sapir Prize for Literature of Israel is the most important annual literary award presented for a work of fine literature. This is Nir Barams third nomination for his last three novels. His last two was also shortlisted.

An interview with Nir Baram in the great Argentinean newspaper Página/12 which appeared on the cover of the culture supplement. Baram talks about literature, realism, the characters and why the book is not about “The banality of evil.”

To read the full article – click here:
http://www.pagina12.com.ar/diario/suplementos/espectaculos/4-33520-2014-09-29.html

The Mexican Writer JORGE F. HERNÁNDEZ wrote an article In El Pais about his meeting with Nir Baram in Mexico:
Já sabíamos que nas noites dos tempos em que vivemos existe muita neblina de amnésia e se amontoam como algodões negros as cíclicas ignorâncias que tentamos abater com os livros que são lidos a meia voz, na luz mínima de uma vela, em meio à tanta obscuridade. Não esqueçamos que as palavras dos escritores que falam com valente verdade, os que escrevem sem medo da agressão com que suas palavras não lidas serão recebidas é tão exemplar e reconfortante como a calada agonia de todos os inocentes que morrem entre escombros, os feridos que agonizam longe dos gritos e do palavreado das propagandas e da nervosa impaciência de uma só criança que, por ter uma bola nas mãos, estaria jogando hoje mesmo uma partida sem frontei..”

The Mexican Writer JORGE F. HERNÁNDEZ wrote an article In El Pais about his meeting with Nir Baram in Mexico:
“I met Nir Baram during the last International Fair of Guadalajara and had the pleasure to make him not only an instant friend with his lucid and full of intelligent humor and conversation skills – but also to express my admiration for his great prose. Baram came to Mexico to present Good people (Abundant, 2013), a voluminous novel that reads like pure water. His fine prose has been written with true heart and soul and as you read it you hear not only the voice the writer, but also each of his memorable characters.”

In the End of September 2014 Nir Baram will participate in FILBA – The International literary festival in Buenos Ayres (Argentina) and Santiago (Chile) – with writers from different countries. In both cities he will present the Spanish translation of “Good people”.

Nir Baram’s article in Haaretz: New Israeli vision: where Palestinians are equal and not separate..
“The real role of the left in Israel at this time is to help the Jews living here to recognize the fact that they don’t have to live in a society that speaks a language of “Jews vs. non-Jews,” “Jews vs. Palestinians,” “Jews vs. Gentiles.” This corrupt way of thinking has dominated our consciousness over the past decades, and we must fight it…”

Nir Baram published an Article in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung about the war in Gaza: “According to the news in Israel, “The IDF doesn’t kill children for no reason” – and Israelis nod in agreement. Over 1,300 Palestinian children were killed in the last decade, hundreds of civilians died in the current military attack, yet the tired mantra is still recited: the army doesn’t kill without good cause, we never kill children intentionally, we’re alright, we are. This robotic proclamation and the moral superiority most of the Israeli public clings to keep us sheltered from reality and create a false and dangerous sense of victimization and persecution…”

Nir Baram’s interview on Leo Zuckermann’s TV show in Mexico. A conversation about “Good people” and other things..

Click here to watch the full interview:
Nir Baram interview by Leo Zuckermann

Hanoch Marmari the former editor of Haaretz in an article about World Shadow in’The Seventh Eye Journal’ : “A literary miracle, a novel that builds a glorious floor above the capitalist mall inside which we all lost our way. Amongst other subjects Nir Baram’s novel World Shadow deals with a group of anarchists that manage to corrupt, through a series of sloppy events, art works in museums and to capture for one moment the attention of millions.”

to read the whole review in the The Seventh Eye Journal click read more