Israeli author finds fodder in personal experience

Being kicked out of cinema school was the best career move Israeli author Orly Castel Bloom could have hoped for.

"They kicked me out of cinema school because I was weird," the acclaimed author said. But the end of this career path ultimately allowed Bloom to pursue other interests -- namely writing -- in which she has achieved considerable recognition.

Bloom spoke to a crowd of approximately 50 students, professors and community members in Houston Hall yesterday afternoon.

The author was awarded the Tel Aviv Prize for Literature in 1990 for her book Where I Am. In 1999, a leading Israeli newspaper named her as one of the 50 most influential women in Israel. Her work has been translated from Hebrew into 11 other languages.

Bloom's presentation was a mixture of her personal history and an analysis of her process of writing.

What distinguishes her prose -- and is the reason she has been pointed to as revolutionary among writers of her generation -- is her juxtaposition of common and slang Hebrew with more academic Hebrew.

This forms a "socialism toward all levels of Hebrew," she said, which, prior to her work, was unheard of in Israeli literature.

In addition to her particular choice of words, Bloom's attention to the role of personal perspective in her stories has characterized her writing.

"In any occasion, I ask people to tell me I am 43," Bloom said. And this preoccupation with age has been a theme in both Bloom's life and in her writing.

As a 23-year-old cinema school reject, Bloom decided her youth prevented her from expressing an accurate reflection of time and consequently, her preliminary work Not Far From the Center of Town dealt exclusively with place.

By the time she was 27 -- around the age when she published her first volume of short stories -- Bloom had mentally planned her life until the age of 40.

Now three years past that deadline, Bloom still has unfulfilled goals and is currently working on her next book.

Living in Israel, Bloom said that the current political situation has impacted her life.

While talk of bombings has become common conversation with her youngest daughter, Bloom no longer prohibits her oldest daughter from riding the public buses.

She criticized major television stations for their coverage of the numerous suicide bombings that have afflicted the country.

Bloom pointed out that many times, announcers say a particular terrorist or religious group is "responsible" for a bombing, when in everyday conversation, the term "responsible" carries a positive connotation.

"If you want to be objective, say, 'who did [the bombing],'" she added.

After the hour-and-a-half long presentation, Bloom signed copies of her latest work, Human Parts, for those in attendance who were interested in purchasing the novel.

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