Alongside the fear of death, one of the reasons for apprehensions regarding old age involves the dread of social marginalization. The Way to the Cats by Yehoshua Kenaz (Israel, 1991) explores the lonely aspect of old age, unfolding some of these concerns in the context of spatial relegation. The protagonist of the novel, Yolanda Moskowitz, meanders between the stifling walls of the hospital and her isolated flat, as spaces become representations of her solitude and social seclusion.
Anchored in Bakhtin’s articulation of literary chronotope, the following reading shows how the setting in The Way to the Cats reflects the character’s loneliness and horror as she confronts her mortality. Specifically, I suggest the novel articulates three main chronotopes: Yolanda’s life prior to her fall, the geriatric ward, and Yolanda’s flat after her return. The depiction of her life before her fall is romantic, the time in the geriatric ward is realist or even naturalist, and the time in her flat is a gothic horror. An additional significant chronotope is the stairway, which is articulated as a ‘nonplace’ in the novel. The space/time in the novel creates a multifaceted dizzying movement between narrative voices and worlds that reflects the complexity of isolation that might be heralded by old age. This paper shows the ways in which Kenaz’s work is a significant voice in Hebrew literature, because of his unique articulation of the intersectionality of marginalized groups in Israeli society.