Reseñas proporcionadas por Syndetics

Library Journal Review

Modern biblical critics have called the author of the oldest texts in the Hebrew Bible J, standing for Jahweh. Bloom and translator Rosenberg, authors of many works of literary criticism and of Jewish and biblical studies, have collaborated on a clear but controversial translation and analysis of parts of the Pentateuch using the term Jahweh. Bloom claims that the author of J was a woman, living in or at the time of the Solomonic court, 950-900 B.C.E., who wrote these selections not as a religious or historical treatise but as a literary work that Bloom compares to Shakespeare. While Rosenberg's translation is both modern and moving, he has made significant changes in the meanings of the Hebrew text. The proofs offered for these theories are no substitute for hard evidence. Nevertheless, The Book of J deserves consideration as a literary work.-- Maurice Tuchman, Hebrew Coll. Lib., Brookline, Mass. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

CHOICE Review

The 10th-century BCE "J" layer of the Torah, translated by poet David Rosenberg, comprises the center 125 pages of this book and provides the focus. Frequent paraphrase, word play, switches in verb tense, and truncated phrases modeled somewhat on modern Hebrew poetry characterize the translation. Commentator Harold Bloom, professor of Humanities at Yale, has attracted unusual attention stating that the author of "J" was a woman inspired by former King David whom she praised in the substitute figure of Joseph. She was, says Bloom, a secularist who in her pervasive comic irony commends an intense sense of life, symbolized by the Yahweh she has created, as the appropriate human aspiration. His argument does not significantly draw from or contribute to biblical scholarship. There are very general comparisons to "modern" authors, particularly Shakespeare and to a lesser extent, Kafka, Mann, and Tolstoy, with an occasionally rich insight. There is no bibliography, no index, no references outside of the text itself. -R. T. Anderson, Michigan State University

Booklist Review

Can Bloom really be serious? Does he actually believe that much of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, the Pentateuch, were written by a woman? Well, yes, it appears he does. Scholars have long ascribed the oldest of the strands running through the Pentateuch to an unknown writer, Yahwist, often called J (from the corrupted term for Yahweh, Jehovah). Now Bloom, working from the innovative translations of poet and scholar David Rosenberg, has put a face on J, and a pretty one it is. After isolating the J text from its surrounding material, Bloom, using literary, aesthetic, and psychological evidence, speculates that J was a woman living in King Solomon's court and that she was probably a friend of the Court Historian, who wrote most of 2 Samuel. An ironist supreme, J portrays god as more of a character than a piety, someone whose capriciousness cannot be tidied away by moralistic interpretations. Whether you buy Bloom's arguments or not (though it easy to be swept away by them), his enthusiasm and, ironically, his reverence for the material make for an exhilarating experience. It's rather like running a race, but, in this case, just keeping up with Bloom is half the fun. ~--Ilene Cooper

Notas de autor provistas por Syndetics

David Rosenberg is the author of more than 20 books of poetry, translation, and essays, two of which have been named "New York Times Notable Books of the Year." A third, "A Poet's Bible", was given the PEN/Book-of-the-Month Club Prize in 1992, the first major literary award for a biblical translation. Rosenberg is editor in chief of the Jewish Publication Society. He lives in San Francisco.

(Bowker Author Biography)