The Song of Songs : a biography / Ilana Pardes.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Pardes, Ilana, Author.

Series:

Lives of great religious books.

Lives of Great Religious Books ; 46

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Bible. Song of Solomon--Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Bible.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (280 pages) : illustrations

Place of Publication:

Princeton, NJ : Princeton University Press, [2019]

Language Note:

In English.

System Details:

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Summary:

An essential biography of the greatest love poem ever writtenThe Song of Songs has been embraced for centuries as the ultimate song of love. But the kind of love readers have found in this ancient poem is strikingly varied. Ilana Pardes invites us to explore the dramatic shift from readings of the Song as a poem on divine love to celebrations of its exuberant account of human love. With a refreshingly nuanced approach, she reveals how allegorical and literal interpretive lines are inextricably intertwined in the Song's tumultuous life. The body in all its aspects-pleasure and pain, even erotic fervor-is key to many allegorical commentaries. And although the literal, sensual Song thrives in modernity, allegory has not disappeared. New modes of allegory have emerged in modern settings, from the literary and the scholarly to the communal.Offering rare insights into the story of this remarkable poem, Pardes traces a variegated line of passionate readers. She looks at Jewish and Christian interpreters of late antiquity who were engaged in disputes over the Song's allegorical meaning, at medieval Hebrew poets who introduced it into the opulent world of courtly banquets, and at kabbalists who used it as a springboard to the celestial spheres. She shows how feminist critics have marveled at the Song's egalitarian representation of courtship, and how it became a song of America for Walt Whitman, Herman Melville, and Toni Morrison. Throughout these explorations of the Song's reception, Pardes highlights the unparalleled beauty of its audacious language of love.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Illustrations

Acknowledgments

INTRODUCTION. "Draw Me After You, Let Us Run

CHAPTER 1. The Rise of Allegory: From Rabbi Akiva to Origen

CHAPTER 2. Poets and Kabbalists: From Medieval Hebrew Poetry to the Zohar

CHAPTER 3. Monastic Loves: From Saint Bernard to Santa Teresa

CHAPTER 4. Modern Scholars and the Quest for the Literal Song: From J. G. Herder to Phyllis Trible

CHAPTER 5. The Song of America: From Walt Whitman to Toni Morrison

EPILOGUE. "Flee My Lover and Be Like a Deer or Like a Gazelle on the Spice Mountains"

Notes

Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 06. Apr 2020)

ISBN:

9781787858411

1787858413

9780691194240

0691194246

OCLC:

1103605861