"The King of Norway"

...still running a bit behind, so this post is a day late.

12 January 2014: Driving home from my friend's house (a three hour trip), I found myself listening to the "New Yorker Fiction Podcast." (I've blogged about this podcast before.) Given recent events, I was a bit down, contemplative, somber. The story I listened to, Amos Oz's "The King of Norway," hit all of those notes, and was on my mind the rest of the day.

I keep thinking about Zvi, one of the story's characters, who always announces the news of world tragedies to his companions. When another character asks him, "Why do you take all the sorrow of the world on your shoulders?", he answers, "Closing your eyes to the cruelty life is, in my opinion, both stupid and sinful. There's very little we can do about it. So we have to at least acknowledge it." I am pretty sure I don't agree with all of that sentiment, but this character, so broken and sorrowful yet with some kind of quiet nobility, will stick with me.

So, today, I am grateful for this author, this story, this character, all coming to me courtesy of this podcast.