Panther in the Basement
ABOUT
THE BOOK
Jerusalem 1947: British soldiers patrol the streets, and bullets and bombs are a nightly occurrence. Caught up in the fervour and unrest against the occupying forces, 12-year-old Proffy dreams of being an underground fighter. But some of his dreams are less heroic: temptation lies everywhere for the youth who wants to be a man – and betrayal is not far behind. Born in Jerusalem in 1939, Amos Oz is one of Israel’s finest living writers and well known as a political commentator and campaigner for peace in the Middle East. The winner of many international literary awards, he is the author of eleven previous books of fiction, including Don’t Call it Night, which was nominated for the 1997 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. Amos Oz is married with three children and lives in Arad, Israel.
Original title in Hebrew פנתר במרתף (Panter Ba-Martef) published by Keter Publishing House (1995)
ABOUT
THE TRANSLATOR Nicholas
de Lange
Nicholas de Lange read Classical Mods and Greats at Christ Church, Oxford, followed by a DPhil in Patristics. After a brief spell as a Research Fellow of the University of Southampton he came to Cambridge as Lecturer in Rabbinics, becoming Reader in Hebrew and Jewish Studies in 1995 and Professor in 2001. His research interests include Hellenistic and Byzantine Judaism. He has held visiting positions at the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies, the Jewish Theological Seminary of Hungary in Budapest, the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes in Paris, the Freie Universität Berlin, the University of Toronto and Princeton University. He is also a prolific translator, specialising mainly in contemporary Hebrew fiction, and has served as Chairman of the Translators Association. He is a Fellow of Wolfson College, Cambridge, a Fellow of the British Academy, and a Member of the Academia Europaea.
Nicholas de Lange read Classical Mods and Greats at Christ Church, Oxford, followed by a DPhil in Patristics. After a brief spell as a Research Fellow of the University of Southampton he came to Cambridge as Lecturer in Rabbinics, becoming Reader in Hebrew and Jewish Studies in 1995 and Professor in 2001. His research interests include Hellenistic and Byzantine Judaism. He has held visiting positions at the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies, the Jewish Theological Seminary of Hungary in Budapest, the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes in Paris, the Freie Universität Berlin, the University of Toronto and Princeton University. He is also a prolific translator, specialising mainly in contemporary Hebrew fiction, and has served as Chairman of the Translators Association. He is a Fellow of Wolfson College, Cambridge, a Fellow of the British Academy, and a Member of the Academia Europaea.