Death of Lysanda: Two Novellas

The Death of Lysanda collects two macabre novellas by one of Israel s greatest poets. In the title piece, we meet Naphtali Noi, a recently divorced proofreader, critic, and creative taxidermist, given to hallucinations and soon perhaps to add murder to his hobbies. Ants tells the story of a married couple, Jacob and Rachel, who discover that an army of the titular insects is threatening to destroy their rooftop apartment but Rachel seems to be on their side rather than her husband s. In fragmented prose halfway between the Old Testament and the playful experiments of Julio Cortazar, these tales take to pieces the psyches of two men and a nation at war with themselves."