Name: The Book of all Books
Price: 391.00 ZAR
Availability: InStock
Author: Roberto Calasso
ISBN: 9781250859020

Type

Physical Book

Author

Roberto Calasso

Translated by

Tim Parks

Publisher

Picador

Year

2022

Language

English

Pages

464

Format

Paperback

Dimensions

21.0 x 13.7 x 2.6 cm

Weight

0.55 kg.

ISBN13

9781250859020

Synopsis "The Book of all Books "

A book that begins before Adam and ends after us. In this magisterial work by the Italian intellectual superstar Roberto Calasso, figures of the Bible and its whole outline emerge in a new light: one that is often astonishing and disquieting, as indeed--more than any other--is the book from which they originate. Roberto Calasso's The Book of All Books is a narration that moves through the Bible as if through a forest, where every branch--every verse--may offer some revelation. Where a man named Saul becomes the first king of a people because his father sent him off to search for some donkeys that had gone astray. Where, in answer to an invitation from Jerusalem's king, the queen of a remote African realm spends three years leading a long caravan of young men, girls dressed in purple, and animals, and with large quantities of spices, to ask the king certain questions. And where a man named Abraham hears these words from a divine voice: "Go away from your land, from your country and from the house of your father toward the land that I will show you"--words that reverberate throughout the Bible, a story about a separation and a promise followed by many other separations and promises. The Book of All Books, the tenth part of a series, parallels in many ways the second part, The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony. There, gods and heroes of the Greek myths revealed new physiognomies, whereas here the age-old figures and stories of the Bible are illuminated anew.

Roberto Calasso

(Author)

View Author's Page

Roberto Calasso (1941-2021) was an Italian writer, editor, and essayist known for his erudition and narrative style that blends mythology, history, and literature. His most famous work is The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony (1988), an essay-novel about Greek mythology. Among his notable books are also Ka (1996), focused on Hindu tradition, Literature and the Gods (2001) and The Book of All Books (2019), which reinterprets biblical texts from a literary and philosophical perspective.

His literary production, often classified within the essay and philosophical narrative, explores the history of culture and its symbols. In addition to his work as an author, he was the director of Adelphi publishing house, influencing the literary world with his publications and translations.

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