Genesis (Magill’s Literary Annual 1991-2005)
At a glance:
- Author: Robert Alter
- First Published: 1996
- Type of Work: Literary criticism
- Genres: Criticism, Nonfiction
- Subjects: Language or languages, Creation myth, Literature, Religion, Christianity, Bible, biblical imagery, or biblical symbolism, Judaism, Hebrew language
Robert Alter’s translation of Genesis is one of several to appear recently—along with versions by Everett Fox (1995) and Stephen Mitchell (1996)—that has attempted to restore accuracy and power to modern versions of the text, qualities that have been lost in theologically tendentious or verbally stilted renderings. The inaccuracies of the immensely powerful and influential King James Version have to be confronted, as well as the problem of matching or overcoming its high tones that have been indelibly etched in the English imagination. Alter’s work addresses these problems and...
[The entire page is 1860 words long]
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