Monday, September 11, 2023

"Blue Moon" by Aviv


It’s a fairy tale of sorts, a tale of two kingdoms, the Kingdom of Light and the Kingdom of Darkness. 

A beautiful, kind princess lives in the Kingdom of Light, and her life is filled with the kind of lovely things you’d expect. Across the shared river is the Kingdom of Darkness, ruled by a prince. One day, as the princess and her court picnic on the riverbank, she looks across and feels an almost irresistible attraction – for what, exactly, she’s not sure. She starts swimming. The members of the court think she’s merely doing a short swim, but this time, she swims to the other side.

 

The prince of Darkness, for his part, has also been feeling an attraction. The two meet, and the rest, as they say, is fairy tale history. Almost. There is more to come, much more, and what is coming will threaten everyone.

 

Aviv

Blue Moon: A Love Story Between Darkness and Light
 is the first short novel, in fact, the first story published by an Israeli writer who is simply calls himself Aviv, a name that I believe translates into English as “Spring.” What we know about him is he was born in the 1970s and that he’s long been an enthusiast about myths, fairy tales, and legends. And with Blue Moon, he’s written one, and it’s delightfully illustrated by Shani Atzmon.

 

You can take the story at face value and read it as a love story between two people and told as a fairy tale. You can also read it as a metaphorical exploration of the human psyche, with all of us being composed of darkness and light. You could also read it geopolitically, but I don’t think that’s the author’s intention. Instead, he’s told a story, and you are to make of it as you will.


Some Monday Readings

 

Blue sky – poem and artwork by Sonja Benskin Miller.

 

Walking England’s Coast Part 1: From Dover to Romney – Chris Arnade at Walking the World.

 

Ernest Hemingway survived 2 plane crashes. His letter from it just sold for $237,055 – Jennifer Ludden at NPR. 

 

Dreaming spires? Arnold’s Oxford – Nicholas Shrimpton at New Criterion.

 

 

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