A PANTHER IN THE BASEMENT, A NOVEL BY AMOS OZ (BOOK REVIEW AND RECOMMENDATION)

 Hello! In this post I shall review A Panther in the Basement, a novel written by Amos Oz. Published in 1995, this novel is set in 1947 i.e. the last year of British mandate of Palestine. This short novel basically tells a story from a perspective of a young boy growing up in a complex world. Moreover, it explores an unusual friendship between a young Israeli boy and a clumsy British officer. Obviously, there are many autobiographical elements in it. 

 If you have heard anything about Amos Oz, you have probably heard that he was considered a peace advocate. In fact, when one looks him up, one finds that online biographies of Amos Oz seem to focus more on his activism then his fiction writing. On my blog, I focus more on  fiction than on non-fiction, but sometimes these two are interconnected. Even if I focus more on literature than history, sometimes one must mention and explore history as well. This is especially the case when the writing is autobiographical in nature. When it comes to literature, I prefer to focus on the texts themselves and look for meaning there. However, sometimes one needs to do some research. In any case, it doesn't hurt to read a little bit about the life of the author. It can only help us to understand the author better. 

A PANTHER IN THE BASEMENT,  A NOVEL BY AMOS OZ     4/5

A Panther in the Basement is a simply written but deeply sensitive and delicate novel. The protagonist is Proffy, a very young Israeli boy growing up in a country that is just starting to exist. Obviously, this makes him ask a lot of questions. Not always finding satisfactory answers from his parents, he develops his own answers and searches for solutions (mostly in imagination). He is of that age when he is becoming more perceptive of the world surrounding him, but naturally most of the battles he fights are within his mind. Proffy sees the British presence in Israel as a hostile one, but he still befriends a clumsy British soldier. The development of their friendship is described in a very convincing way. Moreover, this friendship turns to be a very touching one. These two and their friendship is certainly the thing I remember best from this novel. I was not surprised to learn that this friendship was based on Oz's actual life experiences. 

“In my novel 'Panther in the Basement,' I retold the experiences that revealed to me, as a child, that sometimes there are two sides to a story, that conflicts are colored not only in black and white. In the last year of the British Mandate, when I was about eight, I befriended a British policeman who spoke ancient Hebrew and had memorized most of the Bible. He was a fat, asthmatic, emotional man, and perhaps a slightly muddled one, who fervently believed that the Jewish people's return to its ancestral land heralded redemption for the world at large. When the other children discovered my friendship with this man, they called me a traitor. Much later, I learned to take comfort in the thought that, for fanatic, a traitor is anyone who dares to change. Fanatics of all kinds, in all places at all times, loathe and fear change, suspecting that it is nothing less than a betrayal resulting from dark, base motives.”

Amos Oz, שלום לקנאים *quoted from goodreads

As seems to be a rule with Oz’s writings, Panther In The Basement is beautifully written. The writing style is a tad bit simpler than some of the other Amos’ works, possibly because it is written from a perspective of a child. It may also be that it was written with a view of a younger audience, but it is nevertheless, a suitable read for adults as well. There is something so effortless in a way Amos Oz writes, it is as if writing was second nature to him, as if it was as natural as breathing is to me. Maybe it is. This novel certainly seems to flow naturally.

All the characters in the novel are perceived through the eyes of the child, but that doesn’t make them less interesting. One character that especially caught my attention was Jardena. She gave some good advice to the boy. So, she is certainly one female character that I liked. Proofy’s mother on the other hand, despite speaking words of wisdom, remained somewhat elusive. Yet, all in all, I would say that the portray of characters is fairly successful, especially for such a short novel. The protagonist of the novel stands out in this novel and his characterization is certainly well done. We may assume that he is based on the author himself. However, if you want more depth (and more autobiographical details), I recommend that you read A Tale of Love and Darkness, a true masterpiece.

You will find some recurring motifs, typical for Amos’s prose, in this novel. Take for example his love of books. That is something that manages to find its way into this novel as well. Imagination running wild, that is another thing you might recognize from his other works. Not just in his writing, but in the characters he creates. A single child (a young boy) with an impressive imaginative scope often appears in his writings. There is also that question of loyalty and love. How do we manifest love? How do we prove it? This novel does ask those questions a well. I know it sounds sentimental, but I could really feel a message of hope radiating from this book.

“And when she played the clarinet it was as though the music came not from the instrument but straight out of her body, only passing through the clarinet to pick up some sweetness and sadness, and taking you to a real, silent place where there is no enemy, no struggle, and where everything is free from shame and treachery and clear of thoughts of betrayal.”

 

If I remember well, it only took me about an hour and a half to read this book. The writing appealed to me. I like how it managed to talk about a specific period in time, while at the same time discussing themes that are essentially universal and timeless. This is an interesting view into pre-independent Israel that is not devoid of humour. So, what does panther in the basement means? That is how Proffy sees himself (at one point of the novel) but to understand why he thinks of himself that way, you would have to read the novel…and why wouldn’t want to read it? I can’t think of a single reason.

I would recommend this novel to everyone but especially to those interested in Israel's history and fans of Amos Oz. 

OTHER WORKS FROM AMOS OZ THAT I REVIEWED AND RECOMMENDED:

A TALE OF LOVE AND DARKNESS, A NOVEL BY AMOS OZ 

FIMA, A NOVEL BY AMOS OZ

MORE ABOUT THE AUTHOR (CITED FROM BRITANNICA):

Amos Oz, (born May 4, 1939, Jerusalem—died December 28, 2018), Israeli novelist, short-story writer, and essayist in whose works Israeli society is unapologetically scrutinized.

Oz was educated at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and at the University of Oxford. He served in the Israeli army (1957–60, 1967, and 1973). After the Six-Day War in 1967, he became active in the Israeli peace movement and with organizations that advocated a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In addition to writing, he worked as a part-time schoolteacher and labourer.

Oz’s symbolic, poetic novels reflect the splits and strains in Israeli culture. Locked in conflict are the traditions of intellect and the demands of the flesh, reality and fantasy, rural Zionism and the longing for European urbanity, and the values of the founding settlers and the perceptions of their skeptical offspring. Oz felt himself unable to share the optimistic outlook and ideological certainties of Israel’s founding generation, and his writings present an ironic view of life in Israel.

His works of fiction included Artsot ha-tan (1965; Where the Jackals Howl, and Other Stories), Mikhaʾel sheli (1968; My Michael), La-gaʿat ba-mayim, la-gaʿat ba-ruaḥ (1973; Touch the Water, Touch the Wind), Kufsah sheḥora (1987; Black Box), and Matsav ha-shelishi (1991; The Third State). Oto ha-yam (1999; The Same Sea) is a novel in verse. The memoir Sipur ʿal ahavah ve-ḥoshekh (2002; A Tale of Love and Darkness) drew wide critical acclaim. Temunot me-hạye ha-kefar (2009; Scenes from Village Life) and Ben hạverim (2012; Between Friends) are, respectively, a novel set in an Israeli village and a collection of short stories set on a kibbutz. Ha-Beśorah ʿal-pi Yehudah (2014; “The Gospel According to Judas”) investigates the nature of betrayal by weaving a contemporary dialogue about Israel with an alternate history of Judas Iscariot and his motivations. The novel received the German Internationaler Literaturpreis (International Literature Prize) in 2015.

Oz was among the editors of Siaḥ loḥamim (1968; The Seventh Day), a collection of soldiers’ reflections on the Six-Day War. His political essays are collected in such volumes as Be-or ha-tekhelet ha-ʿazah (1979; Under This Blazing Light) and Be-ʿetsem yesh kan shete milḥamot (2002; “But These Are Two Different Wars”). How to Cure a Fanatic (2006) is an English-language collection of two essays by Oz and an interview with him. With historian Fania Oz-Sulzberger (his daughter) he wrote Jews and Words (2012), a collection of meditations on, and analyses of, various Jewish texts.

Thank you for reading!