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.

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NRC Handelsblad – On the front page of the most important literary supplement in the Netherlands there was a 2 page review on Good People.

The novel also got 5 stars out of 5: “With Good People the young Israeli author Nir Baram has written about the terrors of living under the regimes of Stalin and Hitler. It is done so majestically that it reaches the same level as books by Varlam Shalamov and Vasily Grossman.”

nrc-review-nl

“Good People is a grandiose and brilliant novel. Baram is the most talented young author in Israel today.”

(Deutschlandradio Kultur)

Pre publication review in France – Livres Hebdo:
“So it is finally here, the great novel that earned its author great success in Israel, comparable to the novel “The Kindly Ones” here in France… ‘Good People’ is a masterful metaphysical novel written by a true artist.”

“Nir Baram writes a provocative and unsettling book, a sorrowful meditation on the banality of evil that dwells within each of us, ‘Good People’, reminding us how much weight can individual choices have.”

(Renato Minore, Il Messaggero)

The famous international Mexican Author Jorge Volpi writes an excellent review about “Good People” in the Mexican daily Reforma:

“Like all great historical novel, the greatest merit of Good people lies in its ability to speak on the present time, rather than the past. Because those good people who tolerate the Nazi butchers are similar to those who chose not to hear the news that warned about the genocides in Cambodia and the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda or Darfur…”

“Celebrated as the future king of Israeli literature, praised and translated into several languages and considered the new voice of the left, Nir Baram reaches Spain.”

There is a dual reality that is portrayed eloquently in the novel Good Pepole – Soviet Russia on the one hand and Nazi Germany on the other. The writing aspires to deal with great events and succeeds in fulfilling its expectations completely and with amazing talent. There’s something grandiose about this novel, it’s a sort of architectural structure that is monumental in my eyes.

The story begins with the Night of Broken Glass (Kristallnacht) which took place in Germany and proceeds in describing the life under Stalin’s horror regime, and so continues to alternate between Germany and Russia, until it reaches the crucial meeting between the German hero and the Russian heroin that takes place on the eve of the Nazi invasion to Russia. There are many accurate and sharp observations regarding power mechanisms and regimes along with a sober look on people – “good people”, which generate horrors.

I cannot recall another Israeli author that tried to deal with these subjects. Nir Baram contends with one of the darkest chapters of world history in a way that seems to me as a heroic enterprise. This is also what makes this book a unique one-time occasion in the Israeli literature field.

(Nili Mirski, Haaretz)

‘Good People‘ sets a new standard to the literature of us all. It is a bold and brilliant novel that walks the path of greatness to the edge of the literary abyss and still manages to render the ambitions and pretensions that were invested in it by its young author. This is a novel that defines a way for Israeli literature to further expand its world view and dare to deal with human and historical matters that are not necessarily connected to our own personal adversities.

(A. B. Yehoshua)

The novel is written with great talent, momentum and ingenuity while in its core lays vast curiosity, which is first and for most a moral curiosity. This book expands the borders of young literature and opens new landscapes for it. Thomas and Alexandra are depicted as complex characters; each one has contradictions and depth.

(Amos Oz)

“Good people” depicts accurately and with great talent and vast historical research the roll of regular people, “Fine People”, who served the Nazi regime but did not see themselves as supporters of the Nazi ideology. In particularly the novel describes the roll of those well educated senior officials who served the Nazi regime and advanced its plans while claiming they are defending the honor of Germany.

(Moshe Zimmermann, Professor of German History. Head of The Richard Koebner Minerva Center for German History)

“According to Professor Dan Miron One of the high lights in hebrew literature from the past years is Nir Barams novel: ‘I have just finished reading a very impressive historical-political novel, ‘Good People’ by Nir Baram. The novel is based on a thorough and extensive research and is written in mature language; one that is cultural as well as accurate.”

(Haaretz, Friday, 30.7.2010)

“Good People” is a unique novel that comes along only once in a while. The novels’ magnitude is similar to that of Céline’s “Journey to the End of Night”. Like Céline’s unique novel which takes place during WWI and fearlessly portrays the social and economic processes that enabled and expedited the rise of fascism in Europe – Baram places a fierce mirror in front of all the “good people”, meaning all of us. “Good People” has qualities of a literary work that embodies the “zeitgeist” – spirit of an era. The novel is an immense literary creation which honors literature, the society in which it was created, and the author who wrote it.

(Ruven Miran, Haaretz literary section)

With this brilliant novel, undoubtedly the novel of the year, Nir Baram took upon Himself almost an impossible mission: and proved once again that he can do it.

(Yuval Avivi, “Israel ha’yom”)

A genuine, brilliant and well written novel that shows great talent.

(Yediot Ahronot)

A rich, adventurous and moving epos. An Israeli classic in the making.

(Haaretz, culture section)

“Good People” is in the bestseller list in the Netherland.

Best Seller. List of best novels of 2012: NRC, Trouw, De Tigd, Athenaeum.

Nir Baram dares to step where none of the third generation writers dared to go. Rich epos, brave, rebellious, innovative.

(David Rosental, Walla!)

“A frightening good novel: this novel is much more a warning about the present than a reflection about the past.”

(Review, De Volkskrant)