The Holy Embrace - Softcover

Northwestern University Press

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0810160293 ISBN 13: 9780810160293

Publisher: Northwestern University Press, 1997

Synopsis

This imaginative reworking of the story of Abraham and Sarah combines myth, rabbinic lore, storytelling, and psychological insight to create new and revealing interpretations of ancient texts.

In The Holy Embrace, Abraham repudiates the idols worshipped by his ancestors and accepts God when the Lord selects him as the ambivalent patriarch of His chosen people. But the greatest impediment to God's designs is Abraham's infatuation with his wife, "the most beautiful woman in the world," who is also narcissistic and frigid. How the miracle of their holy embrace is finally accomplished, and how their son Isaac is conceived in accordance with God's command, forms the substance of this profound and witty book.

About this title

About the Author

Mario Brelich (1910-82) gained fame in the Italian literary world with the publication of The Holy Embrace in 1972. Also available from The Marlboro Press / Northwestern are Navigator of the Flood, about Noah and The Work of Betrayal--the story of Judas Iscariot's betrayal of Christ as "investigated" by Poe's great detective, Dupin.
John Shepley has translated the works of Brelich, Camon, and Pasolini, among others.

From the Back Cover

This imaginative reworking of the story of Abraham and Sarah combines in a 'novelized essay' myth, rabbinic lore, storytelling, and psychological insight to create new and revealing interpretations of ancient texts.

Edition details

• Publisher: Northwestern University Press
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0810160293
• ISBN 13: 9780810160293
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 229