Killing the Second Dog

Unable to find work or fit into Israeli society, he lived as a vagrant, though his income from previous publications staved off destitution.

The semi-autobiographical Killing the Second Dog was published in 1965, followed the next year by Nawrócony w Jaffie ("Converted in Jaffa").

[1] Jacob (in whom we should see the author, according to Arnon Grunberg) and Robert are con men in Tel Aviv who prey on single women who visit Israel.

The con starts with Jacob, posing as a sensitive and helpless man, gaining the women's trust and manipulating them into "saving" him.

He then pretends, racked by guilt over an event in his past, to want to commit suicide; he doesn't, but instead kills his dog to indicate how emotionally destitute he is.