SOURCE: Balaban, Avraham. “Introduction to Oz: The Early Stories.” In Between God and Beast: An Examination of Amos Oz's Prose, pp. 33-77. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1986.

In the following essay, Balaban provides analysis of several of Oz's early stories, tracing the development of his characterization, symbolism, and central thematic concerns.

Amos Oz's first book, Artsot hatan [Artzot ha’ tan] (Where the Jackals Howl, literally “The Lands of the Jackal” [1965]), consists of nine stories written between 1962 and 1965. The earliest of these stories, “Before His Time” (1962b), was preceded by two others, “A Crack Open to the Wind” (1961b) and “Purple Coast” (1962a), which were not included in the later collection.¹ An analysis of these two early stories and the transition to “Before His Time” reveals the consolidation of Oz's literary concepts. Clearly, in “Before His Time” Oz created a fictional model that satisfied his various needs and...