A Leopard In The Mountains

Leopard in the Mountains is a book about man and nature. About the nature of man. Since its original publication in Hebrew in 1988, it has become a cult novel treasured by those who cherish the great outdoors and for whom the mysterious and primal land is the setting for things that can only occur when a person wanders distant paths alone. Menachem Perry, the book’s editor, described it as follows: Tsur Shezaf’s first book, “A Leopard in the Mountains,” makes an impressive entry into Hebrew literature. Its two short novellas should be read, I believe, as a single multi-voiced work in which the “mythology” of the leopard trap is a junction where everything intersects. In both sections we find Bedouins in the desert (the Arava, Sinai) and Shezaf’s awe-inspiring mastery of the power of nature, and the ambience (in addition to the strong plot situations) plays a major part in the story.