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Showing posts from March, 2013

Andrew Klavan's Crazy Dangerous and The Moral Imagination

     There are those lovers of Great Books who would speak so well of the fine, beautiful and good letters, that they implicitly denounce common letters. I am not in that camp. I still remember my sweet, dear grandmother Lila, giving me money from her tips where she worked at a local restaurant, so I could buy the most recent edition of Spiderman, Thor, or Daredevil comics. For a number of years of my youth, that was all I read, but read hundreds of comic books, I did.      If I were teenager today, I would hope that I had a family member who would encourage me to read the young adult fiction of novelist Andrew Klavan. Why? Beyond being true page turners, they are peopled with characters who are often driven by a keen and accurate moral purpose. Sam Hopkins, while flawed in his youthful misdirected desire to be accepted, has a turning point where not only does he do the right thing, he does lots of little things that are right. Popular works that ultimately are morality tales can h

Jeremiah's Lamentations--Slavitt's Translation

     Some of us read Bible commentaries and use Bible commentaries for various reasons and the reality is that there is no shortage of commentaries. Sometimes commentaries are given by first rate scholars who even provide a new translation directly related to the commentary. In truth, most Bible scholars are not first class wordsmiths and in the best of all possible worlds, poets, and polished producers of prose would be consulted when translating the Bible. One reason I so enjoy the translations of Robert Alter is because he really does understand language. He knows Hebrew very well and is equally knowledgeable of English. Since it is not likely Bible scholars will seek out poets to assist in translating  we all need to keep our eyes open for the occasions when poets translate Hebrew poetry.       David Slavitt's translation of Lamentations is such a work. Most of us know that  this portion of Holy Writ is a compilation of melancholy dirges akin to funeral elegies about a ruined