Although Oz has published two collections of novellas, Where the Jackals Howl is his only volume of short fiction …: seven of the eight stories were written in the early 1960's …, were published in 1965 …, and were revised in the 1970's…. In the long run, however, it makes little difference if the stories are revised apprentice work. Quality is quality, and Where the Jackals Howl should enhance Oz's reputation and widen his audience.

In one way six of the eight stories do speak of Oz's early preoccupation as a writer—life in the kibbutz, the type of life Oz himself has experienced since adolescence. For Oz the kibbutz does not appear to be a peaceful island: there are such menaces as jackals, nomads, storms, as well as lust and death within. And there is ambivalence: although Oz returns in several stories to the laughing, menacing jackals, which seem to be...