Autocorrect by Etgar Keret review: ‘thirty-three troubling short stories’ - The Jewish Chronicle

Etgar Keret published his first two books of short stories, Pipelines (1992) and Missing Kissinger (1994), in the early 1990s. He has since published numerous short story collections and has written for Israeli TV and films.

His latest book, Autocorrect, is made up of thirty-three very short stories, published in the past five years. Some have appeared in The New York Review of Books, The New Yorker and The New York Times Magazine, but most first appeared in Keret’s newsletter, Alphabet Songs.

They all feel very contemporary, full of references to the world of online dating, Zoom, Spotify, You Tube and Netflix. His characters work for ‘big data start-ups’ and hedge funds, eat at organic restaurants and look for love on Tinder.

Many of the stories could just as easily be set in the United States and some are. Nearly all were written before October 7

Although Keret is now nearly sixty, the people he writes about are much younger. They have Israeli names but apart from the occasional reference to the IDF, military service and Hezbollah, Israel doesn’t loom large. Many of the stores could just as easily be set in the United States and some are. Nearly all were written before October 7, 2023.

There is one major exception which is deeply problematic. ‘For twenty years,’ one story begins, ‘Yechiel-Nachman prayed to his God.’ ‘But on October 7, 2023 – the twenty-second day of Tishrei in the year 5784 – something in Yechiel-Nachman broke.’ He wraps himself in a prayer

shawl and prays in response to the terrible slaughter but the hostages are not released. He goes to his rabbi for advice. Why do his prayers go unanswered? I don’t wish to be unkind to Keret but this story is a remarkably trivial response to the events of October 7 and what has happened since and underlines a larger lack of interest in Israeli society and politics.

Keret seems much more interested in dating, sex and relationships, many of which turn sour. A man shoves his girlfriend and she packs her case and leaves. Another young woman gets pregnant, but her partner ‘didn’t want to risk raising an unhappy child.’ They part ways. Omri constantly snipes at his girlfriend.

There is an abiding sense of loneliness and unhappiness. The more his characters search for love, the less they find it. Young or old, nothing and no one makes them happy. Bracha’s husband committed suicide. She moves into assisted living and someone recommends a computer to speak to. All goes well until one day her computer goes blank. ‘The darkness outside grew more and more potent.’ Worse still, Keret’s stories remind us, is the darkness inside. This is the lesson of the most powerful stories in this troubling book.

Autocorrect

By Etgar Keret

Granta Books

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