Holy Embrace

by Mario Brelich, John Shepley (Translator)

Overview

This imaginative reworking of the story of Abraham and Sarah combines myth, rabbinic lore, storytelling, and psychological insight to create new and revealing interpretations of ancient texts.

In The Holy Embrace, Abraham repudiates the idols worshipped by his ancestors and accepts God when the Lord selects him as the ambivalent patriarch of His chosen people. But the greatest impediment to God's designs is Abraham's infatuation with his wife, "the most beautiful woman in the world," who is also narcissistic and frigid. How the miracle of their holy embrace is finally accomplished, and how their son Isaac is conceived in accordance with God's command, forms the substance of this profound and witty book.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781568970028
Publisher:	Northwestern University Press
Publication date:	05/01/1995
Edition description:	1
Pages:	229
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Mario Brelich (1910-82) gained fame in the Italian literary world with the publication of The Holy Embrace in 1972.  Also available from The Marlboro Press / Northwestern are Navigator of the Flood, about Noah and The Work of Betrayal—the story of Judas Iscariot's betrayal of Christ as "investigated" by Poe's great detective, Dupin.
John Shepley has translated the works of Brelich, Camon, and Pasolini, among others.

Table of Contents

I. Abraham laughs
II. The discoverer
III. Love's mystique
IV. Love's magic
V. A little apologetics
VI. Sarah laughs
VII. A cry reaching heaven
VIII. Honeymoon in Gerar
IX. The Lord laughs (Epilogue)

Editorial Reviews

Brelich's publisher characterizes "The Holy Embrace" ("Il sacro amplesso") as a novelized essay, and the description fits. It's a discourse on an old story, infused with the passion and ambiguity of modern fiction. This is the biblical story of Abraham and Sarah but told from a new perspective: Brelich treats Abraham as a man stricken by a vision of holiness, much as Scorcese treats the Christ figure in "The Last Temptation of Christ". Using imagination and intuition, Brelich brings us the tale of a couple married for many years, with their share of marital problems. Now Abraham, stricken by his vision, must confront his Sarah, "the most beautiful woman in the world," with the news that they must have a son, a son whose name will be Isaac, which means "laughter". And an unholy laugh it is for Abraham. Yet, finally, a problem not insurmountable for a man with the capacity for utter adoration. A witty, intense work, the kind of book one wouldn't hesitate to offer to the thoughtful reader.

Bonnie Smothers