Keret's baseline is the normal discontent or yearning of the average, recognizable bloke: not for him the idiosyncratic, Tonio Kruger-sensitive, misanthropic genius or loner. Yet even the reclamation of happiness takes on a sinister glow, because it is so much more radically expansive than the quotidian roots from which it sprang. Sometimes the magic is white, sometimes black: if the former, we are transported to a place of Chagall-like flight, ecstasy and heavenly fulfillment if the latter, all hell is unleashed. Like any magician worth his salt, Etgar Keret starts with mundane objects and familiar scenarios, then transforms them into utterly unpredictable shapes.
It is also part of our ongoing discussion of Etgar Keret's Girl on the Fridge, all this March, moderated by Adam Rovner.-Editors
Phillip Lopate's essay was included in the accompanying booklet to WWB 's March 5th event at the Idlewild bookstore in New York City.
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