The Living on the Dead is the history of a book that has not been written. Its central theme is the debt of the living to the dead, and in particular the effects on the heirs of Israel of their new and dearly bought nationality.

Jonas is a writer, on trial for breach of contract. Commissioned to write the biography of a national hero, Davidov, he has after eighteen months and thousands of pounds of payment produced not a word. Despite the mountains of research and testimonies, he is oppressed and even rebuked by his subject's sanctity... even when he perceives that the idol's feet are of clay. He simply cannot write the book of the legend of Davidov.

Translated from the Hebrew Ha Chai Al Ha Met by Misha Louvish.

Aharon Megged came to Tel Aviv from Poland at the age of 6. He was a kibbutz member for 12 years, and then worked as a literary editor and journalist. Megged began publishing in 1938. He has served as the Israeli cultural attache in London, and was writer in residence at Haifa University and Oxford. Between '80-'87 he was the president of the Israeli center of PEN. His fiction has won numerous awards, including the French Wizo prize for Foiglman, the Bialik, Brenner, and Agnon Prizes, and most recently, the coveted Israel Prize of 2003. He lives in Tel Aviv.

Paperback, 250 pp.

ISBN-10 : 1592641334
ISBN-13 : 9781592641338