Ariel Bloch

The Song of Songs: The World's First Great Love Poem - Modern Library Classics Ariel Bloch

Jacket Description/Flap: Kiss me, make me drunk with your kisses!Your sweet loving is better than wine. So begins the Song of Songs, often referred to as the Song of Solomon, one of the greatest love poems of all time. Set in a fragrant world of fertility and abundance, the Song celebrates the sexual awakening of a young woman and her lover, and the intoxicating experience of falling in love. It is no wonder that this book of the Old Testament, composed over two thousand years ago, continues to be a source of inspiration to poets and lovers. In their lyrical new translation, Ariel Bloch and Chana Bloch -- he a distinguished professor of Semitics, she an award-winning poet -- restore the sensuousness of the original in language that is rich, joyous, and passionate. Scrupulously faithful to the Hebrew text, the Blochs strip away the veils of mistranslation that have obscured the power and meaning of the poem. Commendation Quotes: "(A) masterpiece has just appeared in America.... This is Chana and Ariel Bloch's beautiful translation of the Song of Songs, with the English and the Hebrew on facing pages, an informative introduction, wonderfully interesting notes, and a thought-provoking afterword by Robert Alter". GABRIEL JOSIPOVICI, The Times Literary Supplement (London) International Books of the Year Selection, 1995Jacket Description/Back: "Quite simply the best version in the English language. Its poetic voice, intimate, dignified, and informed by meticulous scholarship, carries us into the Eden of the original Hebrew text: a world in which the sexual awakening of two unmarried lovers is celebrated with a sensuality and a richness of music that are thrilling beyond words."--Stephen Mitchell"Ariel and Chana Bloch have succeeded in an extraordinarily difficult task. This is the best and most enjoyable translation of the Song of Songs that I know. Their notes, too, offer excellent insights to readers who know Hebrew and, for that matter, to those who do not."--Elaine Pagels"[This] translation is lucid and direct, and has a lyrical purity that is delightful. It seems to me a model of how such work may be done."--W. S. MerwinReview Quotes: "[A] masterpiece [has appeared in America], Chana and Ariel Bloch's beautiful translation of the "Song of Songs, with the English and the Hebrew on facing pages, an informative introduction, wonderfully interesting notes, and a thought-provoking afterword by Robert Alter."--Gabriel Josipovici, "Times Literary Supplement International Books of the Year 1995Biographical Note: Chana Bloch is the author of three books of poems and the translator of Yehuda Amichai and Dahlia Ravikovitch. Ariel Bloch is professor emeritus of Near Eastern studies at the University of California, Berkeley. Stephen Mitchell's many books include the bestselling "Tao Te Ching, The Book of Job, The Gospel According to Jesus, Bhagavad Gita, Meetings with the Archangel, The Selected Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke, " and "Gilgamesh." Robert Alter is professor of Hebrew and comparative literature at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of many books, including "The Five Books of Moses: A Translation with Commentary."Marc Notes: Originally published: Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998. With new foreword.; Includes bibliographical references and index.; English and Hebrew. Publisher Marketing: "Next to Genesis, no book in the Hebrew Bible has had a stronger influence on Western literature than the Song of Songs."-"The New York Review of Books" One of the greatest love poems ever written, "The Song of Songs "celebrates the sexual awakening of a young woman and her lover and the intoxicating experience of falling in love. Composed more than two thousand years ago, this book of the Old Testament is not only an essential religious and literary text, but also a source of inspiration to modern-day poets and lovers. Enhanced by an Afterword by the esteemed scholar Robert Alter and a new Foreword from the noted translator Stephen Mitchell, this definitive volume showcases Chana Bloch and Ariel Bloch's sensuous translation which has "a lyrical purity that is delightful" (W. S. Merwin). Review Citations:

Wilson Public Library Catalog 12/31/2008 pg. 99 (EAN 9780812976205, Paperback)

Wilson Public Library Catalog 01/01/1998 pg. 75 (EAN 9780520213302, Paperback)

Wilson Public Library Catalog 01/01/2004 pg. 75 (EAN 9780520213302, Paperback)

Booklist 03/15/1995 pg. 1285 (EAN 9780679409625, Hardcover)

Library Journal 03/01/1995 pg. 77 (EAN 9780679409625, Hardcover)

Wilson Public Library Catalog 01/01/1995 pg. 15 (EAN 9780679409625, Hardcover)

Contributor Bio:  Bloch, Ariel Ariel Bloch is Professor Emeritus of Near Eastern Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. Chana Bloch is a poet, translator, scholar, and literary critic. She is Professor of English and Director of the creative writing program at Mills College. Contributor Bio:  Bloch, Chana Chana Bloch co-translated Yehuda Amichai s Open Closed Open to wide acclaim. She lives in Berkeley, California. Contributor Bio:  Alter, Robert Robert Alter's ongoing translation of the Hebrew Bible, the magnificent capstone to a lifetime of distinguished scholarly work, has won the PEN Center Literary Award for Translation. His immense achievements in scholarship ranging from the eighteenth-century European novel to contemporary Hebrew and American literature earned Alter the Robert Kirsch Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Los Angeles Times. A member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society, Alter is the Class of 1937 Professor of Hebrew and Comparative Literature at the University of California, Berkeley. Contributor Bio:  Mitchell, Stephen Stephen Mitchell's many books include the bestselling Tao Te Ching, Gilgamesh, and The Second Book of the Tao, as well as The Selected Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke, The Gospel According to Jesus, Bhagavad Gita, The Book of Job, and Meetings with the Archangel.