David Myth in Western Literature - Hardcover

9780911198553: David Myth in Western Literature

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0911198555 ISBN 13: 9780911198553

Publisher: Purdue University Press, 1979

This collection of eleven original essays each by a different scholar outlines the rich body of imaginative and devotional literature which has the biblical poet-warrior-king as its subject or primary focus, showing David to have as strong an imaginative appeal for Western writers as such better-known mythic heroes as Orpheus, Oedipus, Samson, and Ulysses. The introduction to the volume surveys the development of the David myth particularly in British and American literature. The essays represent a variety of critical approaches to the myth as literature, treating in detail such works as Shakespeare's Hamlet, Cowley's Davideis, Christopher Smart's A Song to David, and Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom! and examining the complex uses made of David in the Midrash, Talmud, and Patristic writings; medieval sermons and Reformation devotional treatises; and American Puritan sermons.

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About the Author:

Raymond-Jean Frontain teaches spiritual literature at Victory Noll, Huntington, Indiana and is completing his Ph.D. in English at Purdue University.

Review:

“. . . a valuable pioneer effort to define the place of David in exegetical and literary tradition, beginning with the earliest Jewish and Christian commentaries, and concluding with the work of several modern writers . . . . What stands out amid all this variety is the sustained power of David’s character, his ability to elicit strong responses down through the centuries from writers of widely differing cultures. Indeed, as the editors remark, “David is the biblical man for all seasons.”

(David C. Fowler)

“Nowhere is the role of the Bible as a foundational literature in the west more clear than in the tradition of the figure of David. This book traces the tradition well, fills it out richly with examples from the old history of English literature, and adds acute, lively, and perceptive analysis to a thoughtful orchestration of some of the best vernacular literary responses to the biblical poet-king . . . a welcome addition to our understanding of biblical thought on literary tradition.”

(David L. Jeffrey)

“. . . a valuable addition to existing comparable works.”

Canadian Review of Comparable Literature

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