Israeli writer and playwright, Etgar Keret was born in Ramat Gan in 1967. Keret resides in Tel Aviv and lectures at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. In 2007, Keret and Shira Geffen won the Cannes Film Festival’s “Camera d’Or” Award for their movie Jellyfish, and Best Director Award of the French Artists and Writers’ Guild. In 2010, Keret was honored in France with the decoration of Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. His books had been translated to 39 languages and are published in 44 countries. Two books of Edgar Keret “The Nimrod Flip-Out” and “Suddenly, a Knock on the Door” are published in Georgian. His works are printed in “Paris Review” and “The New Yorker”.
Suddenly, a Knock on the Door
(excerpt)
“Tell me a story,” the bearded man sitting on my living-room sofa commands. The situation, I must admit, is anything but pleasant. I’m someone who writes stories, not someone who tells them. And even that isn’t something I do on demand. The last time anyone asked me to tell him a story, it was my son. That was a year ago. I told him something about a fairy and a ferret—I don’t even remember what exactly—and within two minutes he was fast asleep. But here the situation is fundamentally different. Because my son doesn’t have a beard, or a pistol. Because my son asked for the story nicely, and this man is simply trying to rob me of it.
I try to explain to the bearded man that if he puts his pistol away it will only work in his favor, in our favor. It’s hard to think up a story with the barrel of a loaded pistol pointed at your head. But the guy insists. “In this country,” he explains, “if you want something, you have to use force.”