Piero Boitani discusses how some of the most fascinating scenes of Old and New Testament - Genesis, Exodus, Job, the Susanna story, the Gospel of John - are directly or indirectly rewritten in works ranging from the medieval period to the late twentieth-century: by Milton and Mann; by Chaucer, Dryden, La Fontaine, Orwell, and Kafka; by Faulkner and Tournier; by Shakespeare, T. S. Eliot, and Joseph Roth.
Literature resonates with the mystery of recognition between human beings, and between God and humankind. The opening and closing chapters of the book examine this theme: from Abraham and Yahweh at Mamre to Joseph and his brothers, from Helen and Menelaus to Jesus and Mary Magdalene, from Pericles and Marina to Mendel Singer and his son Menuchim. The three central sections of the book discuss the means by which re-scripturing interprets the Scriptures: through truth or fiction; through letter
or allegory; through liturgy, exegesis, catacomb frescoes, even churches themselves.
This is an illuminating look at the Bible and its medieval and modern rewritings.
- ISBN10 0198184875
- ISBN13 9780198184874
- Publish Date 16 September 1999 (first published 1 January 1999)
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country GB
- Imprint Oxford University Press
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 248
- Language English