A Horse Walks into a Bar by David Grossman

This new work opens as comedian Dovaleh G.

Yehoshua, he stands at the forefront of modern Israeli writing-pushing the boundaries of the reinvented language and literature, exploring ways in which the great themes of love and loss can be explored in the landscape of Jewish history and what Israelis call “the situation.” Grossman is especially well known for his ability to reach inside a character’s skin to explore patterns of thinking, secrets and fantasies, which he pokes at, like the boy in this book who rides in an old car and prods a finger through an upholstery hole until he detects foam rubber. Grossman is the author of nine other novels (as well as many books of nonfiction, collected shorter pieces and children’s literature) translated into English, including his masterpiece, To the End of the Land (2010). Essentially a grand associative monologue, a stand-up routine-raw, seemingly extemporaneous, filled with self-loathing, cruelty, horror and grief-this short novel is a gift of pain, passed on by an imagined comedian to an imagined audience he’s provoking with a sledgehammer, and from there to the reader who submits to the bargain. The Israeli writer David Grossman’s latest novel, A Horse Walks into a Bar, is anchored in the same artistic tradition.

His wit has been honed by suffering, and there’s wisdom to be gained from watching the antics. I was a small child looking at slapstick pantomime, but I understood the covenant at the center of great comedic performance: You have to let the comedian pass on the pain. You laughed, but you had to feel sorry for him. Left out of the spotlight, he carried a sledgehammer and ran after the other clowns who wouldn’t have anything to do with him. The earliest comedy I remember with any clarity was created by a famous tragic clown, a circus performer whose painted mouth was perpetually turned down in a frown.

A Horse Walks into a Bar by David Grossman