Hi! Subash, I happen to be a Russian Jew living in Israel. So if you want to discuss this kind of issue in order to know at least half of the perspective, please contact me off-list.
Thanks. On 12/5/06, SJ <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > hi jostein, > > thanks a ton for filling in the details. basically nobody here knows > exactly what happened and the only 'information' we have here is his > version of things. but we did get the impression that his words were > taken out of the initial context in which they were said/written i.e., > for a norwegian audience. but it does seem a little naive not to > expect controversy when talking about something as contentious as the > recent war between israel and lebanon. > > i think i'll start with the 'safer' Sophie's World. > > regards, subash > > On 12/5/06, Jostein Øksne <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Hi Subash, > > > > If you mean specifics about what he refers to in the article, here goes: > > > > During the Israeli/Hizbollah war in Lebanon this summer, many who > > sympathise with Israel in Norway had a hard time. The reactions were > > all over the place, from anger with Israel and/or Hizbollah, to deep > > worries that this conflict would spread to other neighbouring > > countries, primarily Syria and Egypt. Jostein Gaarder vented his > > frustration in a newspaper article. The normal Norwegian reaction to > > his kind of rhetorics is to incite a debate where the opponents > > gradually put polarised language away and dig more deeply into subject > > matter. IOW, the intial article is meant to rouse people into healthy > > discussion. Gaarder's article, however, didn't go down well with the > > local jewish community at that time. Some person there had it > > translated to English, and it was published both in Israel and in > > other countries. > > > > Taken out of the context of a national political/ethic debate, the > > article looked very rude and demeaning to jews. Gaarder withdrew from > > the debate when he understood he had put his foot in it. He has spent > > months trying to repair his reputation, and from this interview he > > seems to have some work to do yet. :-) > > > > I haven't read any of his books, but according to my wife who has read > > several, the plot in "The Solitaire Mystery" is better than the one in > > "Sophie's World". But there's always something special with the book > > he's most famous for I suppose. > > > > The other Jostein :-) > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > -- Boris -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
