The King Of Norway by Amoz Oz

In this short story by Amoz Oz, the main character has an addiction for forecasting the tragedies and deaths around the world. Zvi Provizor, or the Angel of Death, is always listening to the news and telling everyone about the deaths around the world. He has little human contact except for the news about people from across the world. Oz portrays this character as a lonely human being that his only interest in life is learning about deaths and tragedies. The pessimism and the addiction to death Zvi has, shows how death and talking about it is his only purpose in life. His purpose has a drastic turn when he meets Luna Blank and starts forming a relationship with her. Even though, Zvi and Luna are both mocked with the nicknames Angel of Death and Black Widow, he at least is developing a human relationship with someone. Luna touches her breast with Zvi's hand one day, bringing this relationship to an end. Zvi continually avoids Luna and his death addicted life returns. Human contact scares Zvi as seen when he decided to avoid Luna, the only person in the kibbutz who cared for him. This problem is linked to his obsession of telling tragic events and deaths. His life is so concentrated on the news around the world that he is not able to live a life where his body is. The title refers to a place far away from where he lives but still his mind is in Norway because news came that the King of Norway had cancer. Zvi's obsession with news around the world prevents him from living his present life in the kibbutz.