The Mountain of Malice

Name: The Mountain of Malice
ISBN: 9787020126699

Amos Oz / 陈腾华People's Literature Publishing House · ChinaDec 2023

3.9

Word count: 116K words
Chapters: 29
ISBN: 9787020126699

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Summary

Summer 1946, Jerusalem. Geraniums in full bloom, fig branches bare; Hillel likes to stay up in the tree—his beautiful mother will never return—and he climbs and climbs, higher and higher; Yuri uses corks, matchboxes and empty cigarette packs as warships, armies and tanks, sweeping through Nazi forces; Dr. Nussbaum writes to Mina, who has left her homeland for America and left no new address... Three stories—'The Hill of Evil Counsel,' 'Mr. Levi,' and 'Longing'—interweave: Jerusalem under British rule faces an uncertain future. Blood and tears, hope and fear, and waiting.

Editor's review

*The Hill of Evil Counsel* is a short story collection by Amos Oz, Israel's preeminent national writer, written in 1976 and comprising seven stories including 'The Hill of Evil Counsel,' 'Aphasia,' and 'Longing.' Set against the kibbutz—the collective farm—in the early years of Israel's founding, the book reveals the ineffable loneliness, desire, and moral predicaments deep within human nature through the fissures of daily life. Oz's prose combines dispassionate observation with poetic warmth; he excels at excavating the undercurrents and wounds of the individual soul beneath the seemingly tranquil surface of collective life. His characters often find themselves caught in fierce conflicts between emotion and faith, the individual and the collective, desire and norm—conflicts that mirror not only personal fate but also the struggles of early Israeli society between idealism and realism. Oz's narrative pace is unhurried yet full of tension, his psychological portraiture meticulous, weaving grand national-historical narrative into individual lived experience so that the work transcends regional boundaries and touches on universal existential predicaments. Reading this book is not only an entry into a particular historical moment but also a spiritual exploration that confronts the complexity of human nature.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in Israeli society and culture and kibbutz life
Readers who prefer psychologically deep and literary short fiction
Literature lovers who wish to understand Amos Oz's early creative style
Readers who enjoy sensing inner tension within calm narration

Not a good fit for

Readers seeking strong plot and fast-paced entertainment
Readers impatient with psychological analysis and historical background

Reading tips

Familiarity with the history of the Israeli kibbutz is recommended to better understand the work's social context
May be read alongside Oz's autobiographical novel *A Tale of Love and Darkness* to trace his creative development
Each story stands alone, suitable for intermittent reading with space left for reflection

About the publisher

People's Literature Publishing House China · Founded in 1951

People's Literature Publishing House publishes across classical literature, foreign literature, documentary writing and folk literature, with 492 titles in its catalogue. Representative books range from the Chinese classic Romance of the Three Kingdoms to Lao She's Teahouse and Longxu Ditch in the Selected Works of Lao She, as well as translated foreign literature such as Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury, Dante's Divine Comedy and Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan Novels, alongside documentary and fictional works including Primo Levi's If This Is a Man and João Guimarães Rosa's The Devil to Pay in the Backlands. Its authors include Chinese writers such as Lao She, translators such as Shen Emeri and Li Wenjun, and foreign authors such as James Wood. Overall, the house has a strong record in editing classic works and translating foreign literature, with a publishing character that bridges Chinese and foreign writing and values textual quality.

版权信息
恶意之山
一
二
三
四
五
六
七
八
九
十
十一
十二
十三
列维先生
一
二
三
四
五
六
七
八
九
十
十一
十二
渴望

FAQ

How does this book compare with Oz's other works?

*The Hill of Evil Counsel* is an early short story collection focused on kibbutz life, more condensed and introspective in style than his later novels with broader historical backdrops, yet its profound insight into human nature remains consistent throughout.

Will lacking knowledge of Israeli history affect my reading?

The basic narrative and emotional core are universal, but understanding the kibbutz as a utopian community—its ideals and practices—allows for a deeper grasp of the conflicts between collective and individual that the characters face.

What are the main aspects of this book's literary value?

With consummate skill in the short story form, Oz transforms a specific historical situation into an eternal inquiry into the human condition—loneliness, alienation, longing—and his psychological realism represents a high literary achievement.

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About the author

Amos Oz Author · Israeli · 1939–2018

Amos Oz (1939–2018) was an Israeli Hebrew-language novelist, short-story writer and essayist. Born in Jerusalem as Amos Klausner, he studied at the Hebrew University and the University of Oxford, and long lived in Kibbutz Hulda. His major works include My Michael, Black Box and A Tale of Love and Darkness. His writing examines Israeli society and the fate of the Jewish people in depth, and he received prizes including the Prix Femina and the Goethe Culture Award. He died of cancer on 28 December 2018. The library holds six of his works, including How the Apple Was Grown, Touch the Water, Touch the Wind, Where the Jackals Howl, Don't Call It Night, Elsewhere, Perhaps and A Hill of Evil Counsel, mostly classified as foreign literature.

陈腾华 Author

Chen Tenghua is an author about whom little public information is currently available. His representative work is Malicious Mountain, a book commonly classified under foreign literature. The existing information does not confirm his nationality, dates of birth and death, educational background, or other writing experience, nor does it make clear whether he has published works beyond Malicious Mountain. Judging from the classification of the work, Chen Tenghua's writing appears to be connected with foreign literary subjects and may involve depictions of foreign societies, human destinies, or psychological themes, though his specific style and narrative characteristics would need to be examined through the text itself. Since only one of his works is held in the collection, there is insufficient material concerning his creative development, literary influence, and public reception, and excessive inference should be avoided for the time being. Readers wishing to learn about Chen Tenghua may begin with Malicious Mountain and assess its thematic orientation and mode of expression through the text; fuller author information or bibliographic data can be added later when available.