Strong As Death Is Love
The Song of Songs, Ruth, Esther, Jonah, and Daniel, A Translation with Commentary
WW Norton & Co (Publisher)
Published on 19. February 2016
Book
Paperback/Softback
256 pages
978-0-393-35225-2 (ISBN)
Description
These five late biblical books offer readers a range of pleasures not usually associated with the Bible. They are artful, entertaining literary works-innovative, even startling. Women often stand centre stage. The Song of Songs, a celebration of young love, frankly sensuous, with no reference to God, offers some of the most beautiful love poems of the ancient world. The story of Esther's shrewd triumph is a secular entertainment that mixes farce with sly sexual comedy. The character of Ruth embodies the virtues of loyalty, love and charity in a harmonious world. Enigma replaces harmony in Daniel, whose feverish dreams envision the end of time. And the traditions of prophecy are recast in the tale of a fish that swallows Jonah. Alter's translation restores the original power of these popular books.
Reviews / Votes
"Encountering these books in this form-as ancient literature, laid out as poetry, with copious footnotes-allows you to be dazzled by their range, from the frank eroticism of the Song of Songs to the bucolic idyll of Esther and the downright weirdness of Daniel." -- New Statesman "In each of the Biblical books in this volume a balance of explanation, translation and commentary is offered. In each of them the reader is made a partner in an adventure of scholarship and clarification which is both rare and exemplary." -- Eavan Boland - The Irish Times "Robert Alter's continuing project of translating the Old Testament is perhaps one of the most important literary/religious endeavours of recent times...Alter adds new levels of richness and poetry to the text, while adding an illuminating commentary to untangle the struggles of time." -- Catholic HeraldMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Dimensions
Height: 210 mm
Width: 143 mm
Thickness: 25 mm
Weight
261 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-393-35225-2 (9780393352252)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Strong As Death Is Love
The Song of Songs, Ruth, Esther, Jonah, and Daniel, A Translation with Commentary
E-Book
02/2015
W. W. Norton & Company
€17.49
Available for download
Person
Robert Alter's translation of the Hebrew Bible, the magnificent capstone to a lifetime of distinguished scholarly work, has won the PEN Center Literary Award for Translation. His immense achievements in scholarship ranging from the eighteenth-century European novel to contemporary Hebrew and American literature earned Alter the Robert Kirsch Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Los Angeles Times. A member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society, Alter is the Class of 1937 Professor of Hebrew and Comparative Literature at the University of California, Berkeley.