“Automatic correction” by Etgar Keret: just the end of a world

A candidate of a reality TV game from a parallel world, a man who refuses to go out with a woman on the pretext that he is already married, two divorced researchers founding of the Faculty of Sciences of Loneliness of the Free University of Berlin, a slightly too protective and ultimately toxic husband, a job interview to have “Shock ideas on burning subjects”a man who offers his wife an asteroid finally ready to destroy the earth, etc. Meanwhile, Everything. Moreover, much more is found in the new collection of the Israeli writer Etgar Keret, winner of the Sapir Prize, the most prestigious literary prize in Israel, for Incident at the bottom of the galaxy.

Multiplicity of parallel worlds – "automatic correction" etgar keret: just

Automatic correction Contains more than thirty news. In addition, the majority of which end in less than ten pages. “automatic correction” etgar keret: just And that is all the talent of Etgar Keret: to create a world. a situation, a problem, and solve it or explode it in a few lines. A large part of these news deals with the difficulty of making a couple (“Crisis of nerves at work. in traffic jams, in conjugal therapy session in the psychologist with a rare hair who spoke of their relationship with so much arrogance and compassion that would have said an incurable disease”), and difficulty making choices. The Israeli author particularly appreciated the parallel worlds, of reincarnation, of multiple universes, etc.

The book is of course not free from remarks on Israeli society, and what to live in Israel means. We think in particular of “intention” which sees Yihiel-Nahman, fervent believer, doubting his God on October 7, 2023. Or even “at the beginning. chapter 0” which transpires the daily fear of the main “automatic correction” etgar keret: just character following, in particular, of the departure of his son: “When Nadir did his military service, everything became a source of fear: fear of information flashes on radio, on television, fear of Hamal’s alert flashes, the War Cabinet. »»