CAUTION: Slant Books in Seattle, publisher of Bret Lott’s new Gather the Olives, set in Israel, terms it to be a “dangerous” book.
“That’s because it is about peace in a time when peace in the Holy Land is a faraway, even radical notion.”
And, it amplifies, “Hence the danger: this book might remind its brave readers of how peace is nourished and how hope can’t be extinguished.”
As an esteemed tenured professor at the College of Charleston where Lott has taught literature and creative writing for over 30 years, his name will be familiar to many readers of the Charleston City Paper in the Lowcountry and beyond. Those 30 years, by the way, were interrupted by a brief stint (2004-2007) at Louisiana State University, where he was editor of the renowned Southern Review. That he chose to “come home” after only three years in such a very prestigious situation underscores his deep affinity for the Lowcountry.
Gather the Olives is aptly and intriguingly subtitled On Food and Hope andthe Holy Land. The book had its genesis in extended stays Lott and his wife Melanie had in Israel on at least a half-dozen occasions. And although there are detailed descriptions of sites visited and foods eaten, Lott disclaims any categorization of it as a cookbook or travel guide. In any case, readers are offered an engaging snapshot of contemporary life in Israel in general and perhaps particularly in Jerusalem.
Food with gusto
One of those foods eaten — and with gusto — is celebrated in the chapter “On Za’atar.” This esoteric mixture of dark green herbs, spices and sesame seeds is used, Lott says, “on pretty much everything.” In fact, it has been used to enhance a great variety of dishes since ancient times. Indeed, there appears to be a reference to it in the Gospel of John as something added to the sour wine offered to Jesus Christ to quench his thirst as he hung on the cross.
The author, never preachy but unabashedly evangelical Christian, extolls the flavor of za’atar, exclaiming: “Somehow, in this tablespoon of green and bitter herbs mixed with other spices and seeds, I am partaking of the history of my faith, tasting time and place and salvation. It is a marvelous flavor.”
In a kind of preface to the book, Lott declares t it is not one “on social justice, or political stance, or a solving of the Middle East situation.” Rather, he asserts, it is one about “people to people, and the way, when sharing a meal, there can be peace.”
The author’s disclaimer notwithstanding, some who hold the state of Israel responsible for the horrific devastation that continues to be inflicted upon millions of innocent people in Gaza — especially the slaughter of Gazan children — may conclude Gather the Olives is covertly but overly sympathetic to Israel. (In truth, of course, an impressive number of Israelis vehemently condemn their prime minister’s pursuit of the war, alleging he is motivated by unworthy ulterior motives. As Kurt Vonnegut would say, “So it goes.”)
Nibbles of humor
The book’s abundance of food for thought does not preclude frequent nibbles of humor. Lott’s description of driving a car in Israel, for example, is sure to elicit chuckles if not ungirdled belly laughs.
The chapter “Olives in Jerusalem” begins with this all-caps blast: “DRIVERS HERE BELIEVE in the car horn.” He declares that, “nowhere—nowhere do they honk the horn like they do in Jerusalem.” These “Me first!” drivers “cutting each off time and again and time and again” create mass chaos for which Lott introduces readers to a Hebrew word: Balagan.
Lott’s writing style is as interesting as it is engaging. Although some of his sentences are quite long, others are Hemingwayesque in their brevity such as this sequence: “We talk. We laugh. We start to eat.” Or in this salivating sequence: “We wanted bacon. We needed it. We had to have it.”
Besides such short sentences, he is adept in the use of sentence fragments, something many readers were taught by their English composition teachers to avoid. His mastery of the literary technique called effective use of repetition has a poetic quality which brings to mind the Psalms.
When readers finish Gather the Olives, at least a few will say to themselves as if addressing the author directly, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” (Matthew 25:23)
Eugene Platt, an octogenarian, is the Town of James Island poet laureate as well as St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church’s poet-in-residence. He graduated from the University of South Carolina and holds a diploma in Anglo-Irish Literature from Trinity College Dublin.
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