My ten most memorable reads of 2022, fiction and nonfiction, out of my 42 first-time reads: 1. The Book of Job -- Robert Alter's translation “Oh, let that night be barren, let it have no song of joy.Let the day-cursers hex it, those ready to rouse Leviathan.Let its twilight stars go dark.Let it hope for … Continue reading Favorite reads of 2022
Emily Wilson's translation of The Odyssey is unsentimental. Her language is poetic but straightforward, and never prettified. It's unsparing about the violence and moral ambiguities in Homer's poem, and not surprisingly, reading it is an emotional experience. This happens often in the space of one line, or just in single word of double meaning, as … Continue reading The Odyssey, books 11-24
I cannot say anything about Homer's "Odyssey" that hasn't been said before, so I'm going to take a personal angle on this one. I'm going to try to describe why I loved "The Iliad" even in high school but have never gotten around to its sequel until now. To sum up, I think I loved … Continue reading The Old Beggar and the Sea
I recently read John Steinbeck's "East of Eden", a novel so rich, and long, that one blog post couldn't begin to uncover even 2% of it. But below I've quoted passages from the novel that I'll talk about both in themselves and in relation to certain texts: the Bible, principally Genesis and Job; Miguel de … Continue reading East of Eden
A couple of weeks ago, Tish Harrison Warren shared a small collection of prayers for Ukraine from readers of her column across the world. She reports that her readers have turned frequently to Psalms, and particularly to Psalm 31, which I quote below in its KJV translation: In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust; … Continue reading Prayer for Ukraine
The Two Testaments finished its podcast-tour through the Book of Job recently with a discussion focused on Job's concluding words and the epilogue: Job 42 (Job's Response and Epilogue) with Carol Newsom. The podcast is hosted at The Two Testaments, and it's available at YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nmfpbCSEQc Carol Newsom is the author of The Book of … Continue reading Carol Newsom podcast on the Book of Job
In my last post I reviewed a book by William P. Brown, The Seven Pillars of Creation, that read God's speeches in the Book of Job as a creation story. This was a very new perspective for me. It made me take a look back at my little journey through Job in recent months. I've … Continue reading William P. Brown podcast about Job
Below is the King James text of the Book of Job, with illustrations of William Blake's twenty-two engraved prints. I've inserted the illustrations almost entirely in Blake's original order. Plate 2, which depicts Job's happy former life, I've used both in the prologue and in Chapter 29, when Job recalls that lost time of his … Continue reading Book of Job illustrated by William Blake
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_n87NtpaWo Song by Joni Mitchell Let me speakLet me spit out my bitternessBorn of grief and nights without sleepAnd festering fleshDo you have eyes?Can you see like mankind sees?Why have you soured and curdled me?Oh, you tireless watcherWhat have I done to you?That you make everything I dread and everything I fearCome trueOnce I was … Continue reading The Sire of Sorrow (Job’s Sad Song)
I have an old telescope, through which I've spent many hours observing and photographing the sky. An old blog of mine, Catching the Sky, has many of my photos and observations. I've been looking through my photos and journals in recent days, partly inspired by Tom McLeish's book, Faith and Wisdom in Science. His book … Continue reading Orion, the Bear and the Pleiades (Job 38)
