A Tale of Love and Darkness

            In Amos Oz’s A Tale of Love and Darkness, Oz gives an account of his life growing up in the tumultuous city of Jerusalem.  The time period that Oz is describing in his autobiography is directly following the Second World War.  And, considering that Jerusalem was the center of the Zionist movement that Oz saw firsthand, there were some obvious implications when many Jews did not return back to their religious genesis.  That is, those Jews that did not return may very well have been killed by the Germans and Hitler’s attempt to create a perfect uniform race of people to dominate the world.  It is because of this realization that Oz begins to recognize from a young age that he wished to leave behind a legacy after his own death.  That by “becoming a book”, Oz would be able to leave an impression that would last longer than his physical self.  As he writes;

Because it was slowly dawning on those whose families had not arrived in Israel that the Germans had killed them all…. if I grew up to be a book, there was a good chance that at least one copy might manage to survive, if not here then in some other country, in some city, in some remote library, in a corner of some godforsaken bookcase. After all, I had seen with my own eyes how books manage to hide in the dusty darkness between the crowded rows, underneath heaps of offprints and journals, or find a hiding place behind other books. (298-9)

            Here we can see the obvious implications towards Oz’s becoming the renowned author that he has become.  Sense, as he grew up he realized that ‘becoming’ a book was slightly out of his ability, he needed to find another way to leave behind his impression.  It is for this reason that we see the progression of the autobiography take the route it does.  In an attempt to make his mark and be remembered more so than all the other Zionist Jews, Oz took to writing and has become quite successful in fulfilling his desire.