Dolly City, where Kafka meets Tel Aviv

When Orly Castel-Bloom’s Dolly City was first published in 1992, the French paper "Le Monde" declared that "Kafka has finally arrived in Tel Aviv." Host Marcela Sulak reads two excerpts from Castel-Bloom's remarkable novel, which was translated into English by Dalya Bilu in 2010.

"First of all, I decided I would inoculate the child against as many diseases as possible. I ran outside to buy vaccines against tetanus, whooping cough, diphtheria, polio, measles, jaundice, scarlet fever, small pox, influenza, etc., and I gave them to him all at once—though I knew you shouldn’t do this. I couldn’t stop myself, I couldn’t control my maternal instinct. The child reacted immediately with a high fever and convulsions..."

Dolly City has been included in the UNESCO Collection of Representative Works, and in 1999 Castel-Bloom was declared one of the 50 most influential women in Israel.

Hear our previous podcast on Orly Castel-Bloom's short story "Heathcliff."

Text: Dolly City by Orly Castel-Bloom. Translated by Dalya Bilu. Dalkey Archive Press, 2010.

Music: Proud - You're My Dream Cliff Martinez - Ask Him Why He Killed My Brother (Only God Forgives OST) Cliff Martinez - Wanna Fight (Only God Forgives OST)