On Tuesday night, celebrated Israeli novelist and political thinker David Grossman sat down with Linda Grant at the Cadogan Hall to discuss his latest novel, ‘To the End of the Land’. Soft spoken and with a lilting accent, the audience hung on his every word, his statements on Israeli life, politics and literature carrying an effortless gravitas.

Grossman introduced ‘matsav’ (‘the situation’), an Israeli concept which encapsulates his country’s ongoing war and their misfortune; it is the answer to everything and in turn an excuse for the nation to stop seeking answers. For years, he chose to move away from the topic in his writing, believing it could no longer be revitalised. He was acutely aware that as an Israeli author, even when he did not write about the conflict, his every word was interpreted as an allegory. He only chose to return to the subject in his latest novel when he had two distinct ideas to translate into literature- the first being the agony of a son going to war, and the second, the concept that it takes two people to create ‘bad news’; one to deliver and one to receive.

He finally believed that he could melt the situation down to its ‘components’ through depicting the private pain of a family, and in particular a mother. The woman in the story, Ora, undertakes a journey half the length of Israel which Grossman chose to replicate himself. Surprisingly, the only danger he met in a war torn country was from animals- wild dogs, boars and scorpions. His ‘sweet reward’ with nature came with an epiphany as he considered how many labels were put on the soil beneath his feet. He believes humanity has a deep need to have a place, despite the fact that we are so temporary.

Grossman encouraged the audience to grasp how very fortunate we are to live a life of peace. It cannot be envisaged by an Israeli man, it would just be an illusion; just as a life of war, suspicion and trauma is impossible for us to comprehend. Grossman wishes for Israel to be harmoniously integrated in to history, and most of all, he wants it to be a home. At present, his country cannot even be regarded as a shelter.

A poignant question from an audience member provoked a heartfelt response from Grossman; did he lose faith in literature after his son died? No; it became his home, and gave him the distinct sense that he was doing something right in a world that was all wrong. The power to invent- to infuse life and warmth into his characters was a way of choosing life and escaping the gravity of the situation.

Prompted by the audience, Grossman gave some valuable political insights; referring to the damage done by the Israeli political system to his country’s progress, along with his opinion that a unified ‘one state’ is not possible. To him, both Israel and Palestine deserve and belong to separate states. They are so deeply pitted against each other in hatred that they could never function in a political sense. Lastly, his comments on the Arab Spring were remarkable- while he was deeply moved by the revolution, he does not know if Egypt is ready to become a democracy. He believes a democracy is not about the majority, it is about the minorities- and is Egypt ready to represent its women? Its homosexuals and non-Muslims?