Description
Book SynopsisA meditation on the key narratives of the Hebrew Bible, this book includes characters of the Old Testament, and is viewed by the author from a feminist perspective.
Trade ReviewAlicia Ostriker combines her talents as poet, essayist, and literary critic in this witty and profound meditation on key narratives of the Hebrew Bible. . . .It is vital reading for anyone concerned with contemporary women's reimagining of the sacred. * Cross Currents *
All of us who are women poets, idol breakers, and revisionists . . . feel a deep kinship to the work of Alicia Ostriker, and a debt as well. -- Eleanor Wilner * recipient of a MacArthur fellowship and author of Sarah's Gift *
Transgressive, devout, poetic, bawdy, Ostriker's book executes a Jewish feminist's contradance with tradition and makes of it an ecstatic celebration. -- Marilyn Hacker * poet and former editor of Kenyon Review *
The Nakedness of the Fathers belongs on the bookshelf of Jewish feminists beside Plaskow's Standing Again at Sinai. * Outlook *
An imaginative and spiritual dialogue with characters and narratives of the Old Testament. * Publishers Weekly *
Table of Contents1. Entering the tents
In the beginning the being
Entering the tents
2. As in myth: The Garden
The Garden
Creation
The brothers
Survival
The father's nakedness
The rainbow
3. Myth into legend: The fathers I
The bosom of Abraham
Sarah, or defiance
The opinion of Hagar
The cave
Isaac, or laughter
The opinion of the ram
Rebecca's way
Jacob, or the man of touch
The sisters
Rachel solo
The interpretation of dreams. 4. Legend into history: The fathers II
The nursing father
The songs of Miriam
The opinion of Aaron
History: A Midrash on Sinai
The Sabbath: Mystery against history
The story of Joshua
Judges, or disasters of war
The redeeming of Ruth
Hannah, or sons and lovers
David the king
The wisdom of Solomon
5. Though she delay: The return of the mothers
Esther, or the world turned upside down
Job, or a meditation on justice
Tree of life
Intensive care
A prayer to the Shekhinah
