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“I’ve been looking at [Keret’s] Substack and it’s so witty and enjoyable, and he’s clearly having a wonderful time doing it, I thought, ‘maybe I could do that’” — Salman Rushdie, The Guardian

Works in Progress: "Shut"

People who write very short stories tend not to be relaxed, and I’m no exception. In my mind there is always a messy pile of ideas, projects and stories, and every morning I pull out a frayed, crumpled fragment from the pile and try to wrestle with it. Ever since I can remember myself, there have always been a few projects at the top of the pile that are especially dear to my heart. Ideas that I keep persisting with and going back to, even when they’re stuck creatively or practically. In this column, I’d like to share with you a few of these unfinished creative challenges, in the hope that they might generate some feedback from you and a tailwind to keep me going.

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"Outside" screenings outside

The video dance "Outside" was created by Choreographer Inbal Pinto and Etgar Keret during the initial Covid-19 related lockdowns around the world, and was remotely performed by Moran Muller in Israel, and Mirai Moriyama in Japan. When lockdown regulations gradually eased, the only way to allow public screenings was by video projections on outside walls in Israel, Japan, USA and Germany, which went well with the post-lockdown awkwardness the work was dealing with.

"Fly Already"

If Kafka Were Israeli and Wrote About Talking Goldfish

— The New York Times.

"The Middleman"

“The Middleman“, an Arte mini-series starring Mathieu Amalric, written and directed by Etgar Keret and Shira Geffen, has premiered on the Arte channel May 7th 2020.

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Random quote

Her third story started out funny. It was about a woman who gave birth to a cat. The hero of the story was the husband, who suspected that the cat wasn't his. A fat ginger tomcat that slept on the lid of the dumpster right below the window of the couple's bedroom gave the husband a condescending look every time he went downstairs to throw out the garbage.

— "Creative Writing"

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The Upgraded Me

In an overwhelming, unpredictable world, our virtual selves offer an appealing existential strategy.

— Illustration: Diego Patiño

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Words Without Borders, 2010

I believe that there is a truth. I believe it is very difficult to articulate that truth. I try to go in that direction, but I don’t pretend I will get there.

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New York Times, 2012

For Keret, the creative impulse resides not in a conscious devotion to the classic armature of fiction (character, plot, theme, etc.) but in an allegiance to the anarchic instigations of the subconscious. His best stories display a kind of irrepressible dream logic

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