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Jedna z "izraelskich" powieści Marka Hłaski, kontynuuje i rozwija motywy pojawiające się już w napisanym wcześniej opowiadaniu "W dzień śmierci Jego", które otwiera nowy, dojrzalszy etap w twórczości pisarza. Bohaterowie Hłaski nie poszukują już rozpaczliwie "czystości moralnej", raczej próbują walczyć z obojętnością. Zafascynowanie przyrodą Izraela, pogmatwane męskie przyjaźnie, miłość, która nierozerwalnie łączy się ze śmiercią, oraz liczne nawiązania do Pisma Świętego - zarówno w warstwie treściowej, jak i formalnej - składają się na prozę niezwykle bogatą, pozwalającą na liczne interpretacje i odnajdywanie w niej nowych, zaskakujących elementów.
112 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1964
7 people are currently reading
256 people want to read
About the author
Marek Hłasko
64 books187 followersOne of the most popular Polish writers of the 20th century. Author of numerous short stories and novels. Some of his works were adapted into films. His works were ruled by the idea of an evil dominating over good, inevitable loss of ideas in clash with the reality, as well as with the masculinist point of view. He wrote about protest of a moral nature. In his works he depicted the lives of the lower classes as dominated by hopelessness and cynicism. His characters dream about changes which come out to be vain.
After initial approval of his talent, his nonconformism and critique of communism forced him to leave Poland, and he spent the rest of his life abroad (mainly in Israel, Germany and U.S.A.) He died in Wiesbaden (Germany) in 1969. The circumstances of his death remain unknown. One hypothesis is that he mixed alcohol with sedative drugs.
After initial approval of his talent, his nonconformism and critique of communism forced him to leave Poland, and he spent the rest of his life abroad (mainly in Israel, Germany and U.S.A.) He died in Wiesbaden (Germany) in 1969. The circumstances of his death remain unknown. One hypothesis is that he mixed alcohol with sedative drugs.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
November 6, 2023
[Edited 11/6/23]
An odd novel. If someone asked me to describe what this novel is about in a few words I’d say “Thugs in Israel in the 1960’s.” Ok, maybe not thugs, but “woebegone outcasts” as the long introduction calls them. On second thought, yes thugs. How often do you see a blurb that describes a novel as ‘a blowtorch’?
Author’s photo above from newvesselpress.com
There’s a lot more about the author below, but consider that he has been called “The Polish James Dean; the Polish Dashiell Hammett; the Polish Raymond Chandler;” "an angry communist young man" and “Poland’s original bad boy.”
The introduction tells us “Expansive and self-congratulatory male bravado fills the entire canvas..” If things don’t turn out the way the man wants, it’s because “She brought him down.”
The story is set in Eilat at the southernmost tip of Israel on the Red Sea. (Although it’s set in Israel, the author was not Jewish; he only visited there.) Our main character, Dov, a good-looking thuggish guy, is bumming his way through Israel with his sidekick who is kind but mentally slow. The sidekick, who at times acts almost like a servant to Dov, is protected by him, but it’s a mystery to everyone what Dov sees in him.
The two men in the bromatic duo are in town to start up a fledgling tourist guide business. They take the few tourists who visit out in a jeep into the 100+ F degree back country even though they have never been in the area before. The main/only industry is fishing in the Red Sea. There are violent disputes simmering among the fishermen, some of whom are prisoners sent there on a kind of work-release program.
MAJOR SPOILERS HIDDEN BUT SOME SPOILERS FOLLOW
A major theme becomes ‘controlled violence.’ Dov has been in prison for killing someone in a fight, and both he and the local released prisoners know that any new violent episode will result in their re-imprisonment.
Dov’s father and his married brother live in the area. Dov is scorned by his father because, in so many words, ‘he’s not man enough to control his wife.’ Dov’s wife left him and is now pregnant by another man.
Spousal abuse is another main theme. The two brothers’ father obviously beat his wife into submission and he expects his two sons to do the same. (The father asks his daughter-in-law weekly, ‘Are you pregnant yet?’) Dov knows his own wife left him because of his violence but ‘he just can’t help it,’ so even if they got back together, it would happen all over again. “I was probably too violent too many times; not that I act that way on purpose.” His brother is just as violent. His wife initially loves the brother but he constantly forces himself on her.
Modern-day Eilat from worldtravelguide.net
I described Dov earlier as a ‘good looking thuggish guy.’ Well we are to believe that women just can’t help falling in love with him. This is like a 1950s third-rate movie theme that you ‘slap ‘em around a bit, they love it, and come back for more.’
Where is all this going? Remember ‘blowtorch’?
There is some good writing, or should I say ‘interesting writing’:
“You don’t like old people, do you?”
“No, … How can anybody like them? They know too much and have too little dignity.”
“[The hotel] "is run by a guy name Jack who speaks six languages. Unfortunately, he has nothing interesting to say in any of them.”
“What’s that woman like?”
“Like other women, … Though I’m sure she thinks herself different.”
The author led a short, fast, hard life, dying at age 35 (1934-1969). (There’s a WOW at the end of this.) He was prolific in that short time with 10 novels or novellas and dozens of short stories. About ten works have been made into movies in his native Poland, half during his lifetime.
The author lived the kind of life described in his novels. He was an alcoholic for much of his life, in prison and in psychiatric hospitals at times. Although he was at first praised by the Polish socialist government, his works were later banned and he was exiled and forbidden to re-enter the country. He became a kind of international vagrant, living in various European countries, Israel and the US.
The author had a friend in Los Angeles who worked with Polish countryman Roman Polanski, so he was supposed to write scripts but – I’m going to invent a phrase here – we’ve heard of sleeping your way to the top – instead he slept his way to the bottom. He hit on so many important men’s wives in Hollywood that he couldn’t get work in that town anymore. But he gave parties and at one party he jokingly pushed a friend off a ledge. The friend was Krzysztof Komeda, another fellow Pole who wrote the musical scores for Polanski's films such as Rosemary’s Baby. Komeda died of brain injuries suffered in the fall a few months later. WOW.
The author died of an overdose of drugs and alcohol. Suicide? No one knows for sure. The title of this book is worked into his gravestone in an inscription written by his mother: “His life was short, and everybody turned their backs on him."
An odd novel. If someone asked me to describe what this novel is about in a few words I’d say “Thugs in Israel in the 1960’s.” Ok, maybe not thugs, but “woebegone outcasts” as the long introduction calls them. On second thought, yes thugs. How often do you see a blurb that describes a novel as ‘a blowtorch’?
Author’s photo above from newvesselpress.com
There’s a lot more about the author below, but consider that he has been called “The Polish James Dean; the Polish Dashiell Hammett; the Polish Raymond Chandler;” "an angry communist young man" and “Poland’s original bad boy.”
The introduction tells us “Expansive and self-congratulatory male bravado fills the entire canvas..” If things don’t turn out the way the man wants, it’s because “She brought him down.”
The story is set in Eilat at the southernmost tip of Israel on the Red Sea. (Although it’s set in Israel, the author was not Jewish; he only visited there.) Our main character, Dov, a good-looking thuggish guy, is bumming his way through Israel with his sidekick who is kind but mentally slow. The sidekick, who at times acts almost like a servant to Dov, is protected by him, but it’s a mystery to everyone what Dov sees in him.
The two men in the bromatic duo are in town to start up a fledgling tourist guide business. They take the few tourists who visit out in a jeep into the 100+ F degree back country even though they have never been in the area before. The main/only industry is fishing in the Red Sea. There are violent disputes simmering among the fishermen, some of whom are prisoners sent there on a kind of work-release program.
MAJOR SPOILERS HIDDEN BUT SOME SPOILERS FOLLOW
A major theme becomes ‘controlled violence.’ Dov has been in prison for killing someone in a fight, and both he and the local released prisoners know that any new violent episode will result in their re-imprisonment.
Dov’s father and his married brother live in the area. Dov is scorned by his father because, in so many words, ‘he’s not man enough to control his wife.’ Dov’s wife left him and is now pregnant by another man.
Spousal abuse is another main theme. The two brothers’ father obviously beat his wife into submission and he expects his two sons to do the same. (The father asks his daughter-in-law weekly, ‘Are you pregnant yet?’) Dov knows his own wife left him because of his violence but ‘he just can’t help it,’ so even if they got back together, it would happen all over again. “I was probably too violent too many times; not that I act that way on purpose.” His brother is just as violent. His wife initially loves the brother but he constantly forces himself on her.
Modern-day Eilat from worldtravelguide.net
I described Dov earlier as a ‘good looking thuggish guy.’ Well we are to believe that women just can’t help falling in love with him. This is like a 1950s third-rate movie theme that you ‘slap ‘em around a bit, they love it, and come back for more.’
Where is all this going? Remember ‘blowtorch’?
There is some good writing, or should I say ‘interesting writing’:
“You don’t like old people, do you?”
“No, … How can anybody like them? They know too much and have too little dignity.”
“[The hotel] "is run by a guy name Jack who speaks six languages. Unfortunately, he has nothing interesting to say in any of them.”
“What’s that woman like?”
“Like other women, … Though I’m sure she thinks herself different.”
The author led a short, fast, hard life, dying at age 35 (1934-1969). (There’s a WOW at the end of this.) He was prolific in that short time with 10 novels or novellas and dozens of short stories. About ten works have been made into movies in his native Poland, half during his lifetime.
The author lived the kind of life described in his novels. He was an alcoholic for much of his life, in prison and in psychiatric hospitals at times. Although he was at first praised by the Polish socialist government, his works were later banned and he was exiled and forbidden to re-enter the country. He became a kind of international vagrant, living in various European countries, Israel and the US.
The author had a friend in Los Angeles who worked with Polish countryman Roman Polanski, so he was supposed to write scripts but – I’m going to invent a phrase here – we’ve heard of sleeping your way to the top – instead he slept his way to the bottom. He hit on so many important men’s wives in Hollywood that he couldn’t get work in that town anymore. But he gave parties and at one party he jokingly pushed a friend off a ledge. The friend was Krzysztof Komeda, another fellow Pole who wrote the musical scores for Polanski's films such as Rosemary’s Baby. Komeda died of brain injuries suffered in the fall a few months later. WOW.
The author died of an overdose of drugs and alcohol. Suicide? No one knows for sure. The title of this book is worked into his gravestone in an inscription written by his mother: “His life was short, and everybody turned their backs on him."
March 29, 2015
3.5 Stars.
Video review to come, but here are some disjointed and brief thoughts:
This was a gritty little novel about an interesting cast of characters. The novel spans only a few days, but was very intense, slightly violent, and raw. Throughout my reading I couldn't help but draw a comparison between Hlasko and Hemingway--both utilize direct, no-frills prose and the plot of All Backs Were Turned reminded me of A Farewell to Arms for some reason that I haven't quite been able to put my finger on. Basically I feel like this book is what would've happened if Hemingway and Camus had a baby.
Hlasko's writing is very dialogue-driven, which makes for interesting character development. At first I felt that the female characters of this novel lacked depth, but they were revealed to have interesting motives by the end of the story--even though this felt kind of "too little, too late" to me. What I found very engaging though was the fact that the two main male characters began as acting as foils for each, but in the end turned out to almost merge into one character.
Overall, I look forward to reading Hlasko's other novel. He is an interesting Polish writer who I had never heard of until I received this book.
Video review to come, but here are some disjointed and brief thoughts:
This was a gritty little novel about an interesting cast of characters. The novel spans only a few days, but was very intense, slightly violent, and raw. Throughout my reading I couldn't help but draw a comparison between Hlasko and Hemingway--both utilize direct, no-frills prose and the plot of All Backs Were Turned reminded me of A Farewell to Arms for some reason that I haven't quite been able to put my finger on. Basically I feel like this book is what would've happened if Hemingway and Camus had a baby.
Hlasko's writing is very dialogue-driven, which makes for interesting character development. At first I felt that the female characters of this novel lacked depth, but they were revealed to have interesting motives by the end of the story--even though this felt kind of "too little, too late" to me. What I found very engaging though was the fact that the two main male characters began as acting as foils for each, but in the end turned out to almost merge into one character.
Overall, I look forward to reading Hlasko's other novel. He is an interesting Polish writer who I had never heard of until I received this book.
August 21, 2024
Pogmatwana, lepka i bruda moralnie. Nie do końca rozumiałam dlaczego to wszystko się działo, ale dawało do myślenia.
September 9, 2015
Beckett meets Hitchcock's Vertigo. Not at all bad, though you'll have to stomach much in the way of tropes.
March 24, 2018
Another powerful book by the unjustly forgotten Marek Hlasko. Like "Killing the second Dog", this book is set in Israel in the early 1960s and revolves around an odd couple: Dov Ben Dov, a tall, muscular Sabra, and Israel Berg, his slighter, more intellectual Polish-born friend. Quick-tempered Dov has so many convictions to his name that one more brawl would land him in gaol for life. Without any real hope of saving Dov, a friend lends him a jeep and tells him to go back to his birthplace, Eilat, and make a living by showing tourists around. Israel tags along, and they move into the tiny house where Dov Ben Dov Senior, his youngest son, Little Dov, and Little Dov's wife Esther already live on top of each other. Little Dov makes a living as a fisherman, but he has seen his income go down dramatically because ex-convicts who have been assigned to residence in Eilat have started using motor-boats, and he can't compete. As soon as Dov arrives, his brother asks him to intimidate his rivals. Dov declines. Yehuda and the other fishermen, on the other hand, try to bribe Little Dov into leaving Eilat. Meanwhile, a German widow who has come on some sort of pilgrimage in honor of her Jewish husband meets and falls in love with Israel. Ursula does her best to convince Israel to accept her help and go back with her to Europe to resume his studies. Israel's dream was to be a airplane pilot, but gave that up because his mother insisted on emigrating to Israel. Fearing for Dov's safety if he leaves, Israel can't make up his mind. To force his hand, Ursula has the bad idea of sabotaging Yehuda's boat, in the hope that Dov would get drawn into the fight with the fishermen and be sent to gaol. Of course, her plan misfires. Yehuda takes revenge on Little Dov, Dov kills Yehuda, and it turns out that all along Esther, who lusts after Dov, has been making mischief and is partly responsible for the mess. What is so extraordinary is how Hlasko manages to elevate this story to the level of tragedy. It's a book about the conflict between Sabras and European Jews, and between men and women, but deep down it's about human beings and their demons.
October 16, 2018
It's 1964 in Eilat, a sleepy Israeli town on the Gulf of Aqaba. Dov ben Dov is a classic midcentury brooding male in the mold of Stanley Kowalski. Violent and cuckolded, dripping with ennui, Dov and his friend Israel bumble across a sleepy town, trying to hustle money from tourists. There are several important but unidfferentiated side characters: Dove Ben Dov's brother (also named Dov ben Dov (I am not kidding)), Little Dov's wife, and Ursula, a German tourist who acts as catalyst for the action. A group of fishermen with motorboats provides the antagonists, a group trying to goad Dov into an act of violence which will put him in jail for good.
There's a lot of backstory that goes untold in All Backs were Turned - the politics between Jews born in Israel and those who came after the war, for one. Survivor guilt and class entitlement are hinted at but not explicated.
Worst is that relationships between men and women are assumed to be mysterious and dark, and women are alternatively predictable objects and angelic revealers of cosmic truth. Ultimately, as in the worst Hemingway, women are both the measure of manhood and the force which unmans them. Which is to say rank, weird misogyny spoils about half this book.
I read this as someone interested in Polish expat literature; someone interested in Israeli fiction might want to pick this up as well. Unfortunately my interest in the subject isn't enough for me to recommend this book to anyone as a standalone work of literature.
There's a lot of backstory that goes untold in All Backs were Turned - the politics between Jews born in Israel and those who came after the war, for one. Survivor guilt and class entitlement are hinted at but not explicated.
Worst is that relationships between men and women are assumed to be mysterious and dark, and women are alternatively predictable objects and angelic revealers of cosmic truth. Ultimately, as in the worst Hemingway, women are both the measure of manhood and the force which unmans them. Which is to say rank, weird misogyny spoils about half this book.
I read this as someone interested in Polish expat literature; someone interested in Israeli fiction might want to pick this up as well. Unfortunately my interest in the subject isn't enough for me to recommend this book to anyone as a standalone work of literature.
Read
November 3, 2024Jedna z lepszych imho. Podobnie jak w „Brudnych czynach”, przemoc, pożądanie, gniew, zazdrość oraz męska przyjaźń wirują i plączą się w bliskowschodnim, upalnym tyglu.
October 22, 2025
100% Marka Hłasko w Marku Hłasko
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 24, 2016
Penulis : Marek Hłasko
Penerbit : New Vessel Press
Desember 2014, 140 Halaman
Novel karya Hlasko bercerita tentang sepasang sahabat Don Ben Dov dan Israel, yang pergi ke wilayah selatan Israel, mencari penghidupan di Eliat, kampung halaman Don Ben Dov. di Eliat, sepasang sahabat itu bukan hanya mencari uang, mereka harus menjaga sikap untuk selalu berperilaku baik atau peringatan terakhir dari pengadilan akan berbuah penjara jika sekali lagi mereka berbuat onar
Novel dengan sedikit tokoh cerita, terjadi beberapa hari dan di kota kecil, keterampilan Hlasko adalah menyajikan cerita tanpa penggambaran yang berlebih, dengan keterus terangan dialog yang terus di jaga ketat. hasilnya; seteru antara kesetiakawanan, pengkhianatan dan gairah seksual saling berebut menunggangi jalannya cerita tanpa lebih dulu menunggu giliran siapa. brutal. pure intense.
http://azzamizzatal.com/2016/07/24/al...
Penerbit : New Vessel Press
Desember 2014, 140 Halaman
Novel karya Hlasko bercerita tentang sepasang sahabat Don Ben Dov dan Israel, yang pergi ke wilayah selatan Israel, mencari penghidupan di Eliat, kampung halaman Don Ben Dov. di Eliat, sepasang sahabat itu bukan hanya mencari uang, mereka harus menjaga sikap untuk selalu berperilaku baik atau peringatan terakhir dari pengadilan akan berbuah penjara jika sekali lagi mereka berbuat onar
Novel dengan sedikit tokoh cerita, terjadi beberapa hari dan di kota kecil, keterampilan Hlasko adalah menyajikan cerita tanpa penggambaran yang berlebih, dengan keterus terangan dialog yang terus di jaga ketat. hasilnya; seteru antara kesetiakawanan, pengkhianatan dan gairah seksual saling berebut menunggangi jalannya cerita tanpa lebih dulu menunggu giliran siapa. brutal. pure intense.
http://azzamizzatal.com/2016/07/24/al...
August 13, 2015
Blistering narrative combined with colorful characters. A novel of sexual passion, violence, and betrayal, in classic hardboiled prose. Hlasko paints a raw and brutal sketch of two very different friends caught in a web of deception. Violent yet captivating in a painfully dark way. The tension and dialogue based narrative keep the action constant. The end ties it all together. Fans of hardboiled, bold and gritty writing, featuring an eclectic cast will revel in Hlasko rebellious delivery.
November 25, 2009
I don't usually go for dialogue-driven novels but I enjoyed this one. A very good meditation on violence and choice set in post-war Israel.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews