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Genesis
Translation and Commentary
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Format: Paperback / softback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?
This edition is ideal for readers interested in religious texts, biblical scholarship, and literary translations. Students, scholars, and those seeking a deeper understanding of Genesis will find Alter's work both accessible and profound.
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See more"[Here is] the Genesis for our generation and beyond."—Robert Fagles
Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and
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Description
Genesis begins with the making of heaven and earth and all life, and ends with the image of a mummy—Joseph's—in a coffin. In between come many of the primal stories in Western culture: Adam and Eve's expulsion from the garden of Eden, Cain's murder of Abel, Noah and the Flood, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham's binding of Isaac, the covenant of God and Abraham, Isaac's blessing of Jacob in place of Esau, the saga of Joseph and his brothers.
In Robert Alter's brilliant translation, these stories cohere in a powerful narrative of the tortuous relations between fathers and sons, husbands and wives, eldest and younger brothers, God and his chosen people, the people of Israel and their neighbours. Alter's translation honours the meanings and literary strategies of the ancient Hebrew and conveys them in fluent English prose. It recovers a Genesis with the continuity of theme and motif of a wholly conceived and fully realised book. His insightful, fully informed commentary illuminates the book in all its dimensions.
Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?
Time hails it as "a masterly new translation." Robert Fagles praises Alter's English prose for combining the gravitas of the King James Bible with contemporary clarity. Roger Shattuck commends the glowing translation and illuminating commentary, capturing the profound truths of life embedded in the original Hebrew.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9780393316704
Publisher: WW Norton & Co
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 17 September 1997
Country: United States
Imprint: WW Norton & Co
Contributors:
- Edited by Robert Alter
Audience: Tertiary education, Professional and scholarly
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 28.0mm
Width: 137.0mm
Height: 208.0mm
Weight: 427g
Pages: 384
Collections
About the Author
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.
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