My Michael is a 1968 novel by the Israeli author Amos Oz. The story, told in first-person by a dissatisfied wife, describes her deteriorating marriage to a geology student and her escape into a private fantasy world of violent heroics and sexual encounters. Set in Jerusalem of the 1950s, the novel uses the physical and political landscape of the city as a metaphor for the protagonist's inner struggle. The novel garnered much controversy upon its publication in Israel, and was also the best-selling novel in Israel in the 1968–1969 season. The novel was translated into English in 1972 and has since been translated into more than 30 languages. It was adapted into a Hebrew-language film in 1976.
First edition (Hebrew)
Amos Oz was an Israeli writer, novelist, journalist, and intellectual. He was also a professor of Hebrew literature at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. From 1967 onwards, Oz was a prominent advocate of a two-state solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.
Oz in the 1980s
Oz in 1965
Oz in 2013
Oz speaking at Tel Aviv University, faculty of medicine in 2011