Sunday, February 10, 2019
Untitled
A well-known israeli author and literary critic, Amalia Kahana -Carmon, died recently at the age of 93. In her stories, she focused on the plight of women in a male dominant society.
It appears the family (three surviving children: a daughter who lives in the UK, and two sons) hasn't issued any announcement, and the news of her death reached the public indirectly, some time after her private funeral. I've even read somewhere that they won't participate in public ceremonies in her memory. If that's true, it sounds a bit far fetched.
Perhaps, it's too early to know the reason for the family's decision to go entirely private. As far as I know, Amalia Carmon was honored with all the literary prizes and awards possible. So, no ground for frustration in this respect.
Shortly before her death, another israeli famous writer, Amos Oz, left us (RIP). The latter(aged 79), was an internationally acclaimed writer and a man of great charisma. . His death opened an "orgy" (in the ancient sense) of events in his memory, and perhaps that scarred a little the Carmon family. There are people for whom privacy is above all public interest.
And who knows, may be, it was Amalia Kahana- Carmon's explicit wish to have a private funeral and no memorial ceremonies, and that, of course, has to be respected. We shall probably hear something about it later, or....not .
May her soul rest in peace!
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Interesting - I hadn't heard of her. I wonder what the reason is for no announcement by the family and no public ceremonies.
ReplyDeleteYes. I'm wondering too, and I'll be following the news, in case something about that is revealed.
DeleteI'm going to look her up. She sounds quite interesting.
ReplyDeleteGood thing, Linda! She was interesting both as a person and as a writer. She has also raised three professionally successful children. Her daughter is professor at Cardiff (UK)university; her two sons are high-tech people.
DeleteFrom both of the two, I know only Oz. Hard to say what was the reason of the family to hide this information from public
ReplyDeleteOz is indeed,the more internationally known of the two.
DeleteI wouldn't say the family wanted intentionally to hide, more to avoid the public overshadowing the private, if we can say so.
How curious! As you say, may her soul rest in peace.
ReplyDeleteVery curious! Hopefully, we shall hear more on that in the near future, so that we don't misunderstand the whole thing.
DeleteAs the other Linda said, I'm going to look her up. Who knows if it was her wish to be so private, or those who might have made that decision, after her passing. I understand the privacy part, as that's my wish for myself (not that I have a public that will notice). It would be interesting to know the reason, but we, most likely, never will.
ReplyDeleteThe truth is that when a known, public figure(singer, writer, actor, politician etc..) dies, there's a lot of exggerating speeches and events in the deceased's memory. Not everyone likes that or agrees to that.
Deletewell, she's certainly no Aretha Franklin who not only spent her last hours picking out various outfits in which she wanted her family to change her a couple of times during the church service in the open casket, but she also deliberately left this world without a testament so that her kids would publicly fight for her money and thus she'd remain in media for a long time even after her death. A true diva, indeed.
ReplyDeleteUnbelievable! Your comment made me look up the details. It appears Aretha Franklin was burried like a queen: in a gold plated casket, dressed in a red,lace dress, red high-heeled shoes,red nail polish, with custom-made earrings.
DeleteAs for the no- will, maybe it was out of financial ignorance. She's not the only one famous or not who leaves the world without a will, and causes a mess for the surviving family. But you seem to know better.
It is difficult to know the reasons for why people do unexpected things. Just as natural for us to be curious about these decisions.
ReplyDeleteWe can only guess/speculate about reasons, but not really know for sure, unless we're told directly from the source.
DeleteThe family's reaction is a bit strange, but as you say maybe she wanted it like this.
ReplyDeleteI think the most plausible explanation is that the deceased wanted it that way. No mystery here, and no surprises. But again,if it was her wish, it should have been made known by the family.
DeleteI understand peoples' need or desire to keep it private and certainly at the wish of the deceased, but it is hard, I think for others. The recent and unexpected death of my friend Steve brought our group sadness but with no funeral or memorial it has been hard to find closure, though I think we will have our own. Which is sad, but will help.
ReplyDeleteYes,it is hard "for others", those who have known and appreciated the person.
Delete'Closure' is a key word here.It means accepting what has happened and honoring the new situation.
She's new to me and I will be "googling" her shortly. I get the private funeral, maybe that was her call. That makes it difficult though when the person is well known and people want to pay their respects. She and the family are the only ones who know what is going on. As for Oz, I will look him up also. Interesting post, Duta!
ReplyDeleteThat's right. When a person is well-known, that makes it difficult to turn his passing into a complete private matter. It could offend those who wanted to pay their respects.
DeletePerhaps she wanted it this way?
ReplyDeleteMay she rest in peace.
All the best Jan
That would be the simplest and most logical explanation, Jan.
DeleteI agree that the most logical answer is that she wanted it that way otherwise most people would give the general public a change to say goodbye as people beyond her family might have a bond with her in any way
ReplyDeleteWell, there's silence in the media about that, so any guess is a good one.
DeletePerhaps there was dissent between the her and her children which makes them not want to bother with any fuss about her life. Or perhaps the lady herself was a private person and did not wish any fuss after she passed over. Only the family will know this.
ReplyDeleteCould be. Whatever the reason, people that appreciated her and her literary work felt they missed the chance of saying a proper good-by to her.
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