covered with a fine black down, and the nurse held him helplessly in her hands and pleaded with Ella gently to take him, and then she asked her again, this time impatiently, to take him and feed him like all the other mothers, but Ella went on ignoring her baby, just as she went on ignoring Israel, who remained standing stubbornly by the bed and did not take his eyes off her as they slowly filled with tears and her face grew more and more blurred until it dissolved into the whiteness of the pillows, and behind him he heard the head nurse clapping her hands again, and finally she turned to him and asked him to leave – all the other visitors had already gone – and Israel took two or three steps backward and then he turned around and walked out of the room. Literary significance Past Continuous is considered the first novel ever to be written in truly vernacular Hebrew and in 2005 it was named the best novel written about Tel Aviv by Time Out Tel Aviv. Full of incidental information on the ups and downs of Zionism, the novel serves as an introduction to Israel as well as to Israeli literature. It received international acclaim as a unique work of modernism, prompting critic Gabriel Josipovici of The Independent to name it the greatest novel of the decade in 1989, comparing it to Proust's In Search of Lost Time. In a 2007 survey among 25 top Israeli publishers, editors, and critics, Past Continuous was chosen the best Hebrew book written in Israel since the foundation of the state in 1948. Film adaptation In 1995 Director Amos Gitai adapted the book into a film Zihron Devarim (released as Devarim in France, L'Inventario in Italy and Things in English-speaking markets), starring Assi Dayan, Amos Shub, Lea Koenig, and Gitai himself. In 2012 Director David (Dave) Abramov adapted the book into a short film, titled Hitabdot Aliza ('Yisrael's Cheerful Requiem') starring Eldad Carin (as Israel), Ari Libsker (as Goldman), Rana Werbin (Eliezra), and Adi Kum (as Ela). Editions Hebrew Zikhron Devarim. Tel Aviv: Siman Kriah, 1977. Reprinted 1994. English Past Continuous. Overlook Press, 1983, reprinted 2004, Past Continuous. Jewish Publication Society of America, 1985, Past Continuous. Schocken Books, 1989, References External links Past Continuous - New York Times review Past Continuous at Overlook Press. Zihron Devarim - film adaptation