The Book of Intimate Grammar - Softcover

David Grossman

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0330335944 ISBN 13: 9780330335942

Publisher: Picador, 1996

Synopsis

Aron Kelinfeld is the ringleader among the boys in his Jerusalem neighborhood, but as his 12-year-old friends begin to mature, Aaron remains imprisoned in the body of a child for three long years. While Israel inches toward the Six-Day War, and his friends cross the boundary between childhood and adolescence, Aron remains in his childs body, spying on the changes that adulthood wreaks as, like his hero Houdini, he struggles to escape the trap of growing up.

About this title

From the Back Cover

David Grossman, the leading Israeli novelist of his generation, showed himself in his internationally acclaimed novel, See Under: LOVE, to be a consummate artist of the inner life of the child. Now, in his most moving and accessible novel yet, he gives us the story of the greatest and most universal tragedy, the loss of that childhood world. At twelve, Aron Kleinfeld is the ringleader among the boys in his Jerusalem neighborhood, their inspiration in dreaming up games and adventures. But as his friends begin to mature, Aron remains imprisoned for three long years in the body of a child. While Israel inches toward the Six-Day War, and while the voices of his friends change and become strange to him, Aron lives in his child body as though in a nightmare. Like a spy in enemy territory, he learns to decipher the internal codes of sexuality and desire, to understand the unyielding bureaucracy of the human body. Hurled between childhood and adulthood, between the pure and the profane, he is like a volcano of emotions and impulses. But, like his hero Houdini, Aron still struggles to escape from the trap of growing up. The Book of Intimate Grammar is about the alchemy of childhood, which transforms loneliness and fear into creation, and about the struggle to emerge as an artist. Funny, painful and passionate, it is a work of enormous intensity and beauty.

About the Author

David Grossman is the author of two books of journalism, several children's books, a play, and six novels, including Be My Knife. He lives in Jerusalem.

Edition details

• Publisher: Picador
• Publication date: 1996
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0330335944
• ISBN 13: 9780330335942
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 352