Amos Oz, Recipient of Park Kyong-ni Prize, Speaks at Yonsei

-“No man is an island, but every one of us is a peninsula”

The Israeli writer Amos Oz, winner of the fifth annual Park Kyong-ni Prize, spoke at Yonsei on October 27. Established by the Toji Culture Foundation in honor of the renowned South Korean novelist Park Kyong-ni, the prize recognizes outstanding writers from around the globe. Oz was selected from a list of seventy-one candidates for his long and distinguished literary career, in which he has written eloquently about the complex history and people of Israel.  

The theme of Oz’s lecture was “No man is an island, but every one of us is a peninsula.” In it, he expressed his beliefs concerning art and literature and the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict. A writer, Oz stressed, must continually question the world, while being imaginative and empathetic. “Good literature, great literature,” he said, “should help others to recognize what they do not want to know, what is hard to face even though it exists. Above all, the writer ought to understand what it is to be in another’s shoes.” In his memorable conclusion, Oz said: “No man is an island, but every one of us is a peninsula, because we have a deep silence yet are connected to innumerable others through family, society, and ideas.”