Joseph and His Brothers (Masterplots II: World Fiction Series)
At a glance:
- Author: Thomas Mann
- First Published: 1948
- Type of Work: Comic epic
- Time of Work: c.1400
- Setting: Canaan and Egypt
- Principal Characters: Jacob, Rachel, Joseph, Mut, Ikhnaton
- Genres: Long fiction, Epic
- Subjects: Slavery or slaves, Marriage, Religion, Jealousy, envy, or resentment, Brothers, Rulers, Biblical times, Disasters, Natural disasters, Prophecy or prophets, Famines
- Locales: Egypt, ancient, Canaan
The Novels
In his four Joseph novels, Thomas Mann explores the roots of Western civilization by elaborating on the stories of Abraham’s descendants, which are recorded in the last half of the book of Genesis. The first novel in the tetralogy, Joseph and His Brothers, explains how Joseph’s ancestors developed and bequeathed to him a profound desire to serve only the Highest, the One, the Living God. In obedience to his God, Abraham had nearly sacrificed his son Isaac before God told him to put a ram on the altar instead. When Isaac, old and almost blind, bestows the...
[The entire page is 3933 words long]
