Researchers Find Original Agnon Shopping List

“‘Eggs. Bread. White cheese. Onions.’ He didn’t have to put the items in that order, but he chose that order. Why?”

Jerusalem, February 1 – An accidental discovery of immense historical and literary value took place this week at the National Library of Israel when a clerk found an original manuscript of a shopping list by the late Nobel laureate S. Y. Agnon.

A cataloguing effort of the personal papers of several literary figures and thinkers is underway at the library, which is housed at The Hebrew University’s Givat Ram campus. Between yellowing pages of a letter by Agnon to a relative, a student intern discovered a previously-unknown list of eleven grocery items, written in the author’s handwriting.

Scholars discerned at once the literary significance of the list. “Agnon’s evocative choice of words shines through as always,” whispered an excited Dr. Hedda Vapin, an assistant curator of the collection. “My heart’s been racing since I first saw it. He’s so economical with words, yet lyrical at the same time. ‘Eggs. Bread. White cheese. Onions.’ He didn’t have to put the items in that order, but he chose that order. Why? I see this list as the subject of several major papers. We now have another small but important window into the consciousness of a literary giant.”

News of the find spread quickly through the literary and academic world. “It’s exciting,” gushed Rhea Dintuit, Professor of Hebrew Literature at Oxford University. “We all speak and write to some degree, but it’s the great ones who put together the familiar pieces of the language in new and unexpected ways. Would it ever occur to you or me to juxtapose ‘salt’ with ‘cabbage’? That’s part of Agnon’s genius, and he does it so simply, so sparingly.”

Already, talks are underway between the University and the S.Y Agnon House museum to reach an arrangement whereby the list can be displayed in its original environment. “Of course the list has literary value, but it must also be seen in the context of the author’s life and environment,” explained S.Y. House director Neville Gazer. “It would be much more meaningful for people to encounter the terms ‘margarine,’ ‘sugar,’ and ‘tea’ where those items would be stored and used – otherwise they lack critical knowledge of the milieu in which this list was written and, one would assume, taken to the store.”

DIntuit hopes to visit Israel soon to see the list in person. “Aside from the thrill of experiencing a piece of literary history, I’d like to find out what the hell ‘white cheese’ is. Isn’t most cheese white?”

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