Was there ever such a relationship as that between the author and the critic? Some have likened it to the parasitical tick feeding from a host body, the one being completely dependent on the other for its existence. For, if not for the writer, what need would the world have for a literary critic? Of course some would argue that the world has no need of literary critics anyway, but as it's mainly writers who make that argument it is not without bias.

To justify their existence the literary critic claims that someone must "interpret" for the layman an author's place in the world of letters and how he or she measures up to their peers and predecessors. Unlike the reviewer giving the casual reader a quick overview of a book's readability, the critic sees him or herself as the guardian of their era's standards, holding authors accountable, when, if unchecked, they would publish with no regard to their place in history.

We're of course not talking about the world of the novel, mass-produced best sellers read by the hoi polloi, but those seminal works of literature that when published sit on the shelves of bookstores awaiting the discerning reader's hand and eye. Perhaps not even appreciated in the author's lifetime, it will survive because of its contribution to the world of letters either through some stylistic innovation, or its insights into the human condition.

But how will the public find out that this work of art awaits them on the shelves of their local bookstore? Who is there that will assure this masterpiece its place among the pantheon of the great? None other than the critic of course, who through dint of his or her academic studies and position in society has been arbitrarily judged worthy of making such judgments.

It's in the close confines of Israel's world of Hebrew literature that Aharon Megged set his novel The Flying Camel And The Golden Hump. First published in Hebrew in 1982 and now available in English from Toby Press, it takes the reader on a part satirical, part historical trip into the world of Hebrew literature dating back to the 19th century.