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Moses: A Narrative
Very near fine in a near fine dustjacket (a bit of rubbing to the dj at the folds, slight toning to the spine of the dj). Hardcover first edition - New Stonehill Publishing Co.,, (1976). Hardcover first edition -. Very near fine in a near fine dustjacket (a bit of rubbing to the dj at the folds, slight toning to the spine of the dj).. First US printing. An epic narrative poem, by the author of "The Clockwork Orange," covering the history of Moses from bondage to Jordan, written - according to the foreword - as a preliminary to a collaborative screenplay for a television series on the life of Moses. 192 pp.
- GenresPoetry
192 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 1976
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69 people want to read
About the author
Anthony Burgess
360 books4,252 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Seriocomic novels of noted British writer and critic Anthony Burgess, pen name of John Burgess Wilson, include the futuristic classic A Clockwork Orange (1962).
He composed also a librettos, poems, plays, screens, and essays and traveled, broadcast, translated, linguist and educationalist. He lived for long periods in southeastern Asia, the United States of America, and Europe along Mediterranean Sea as well as England. His fiction embraces the Malayan trilogy ( The Long Day Wanes ) on the dying days of empire in the east. The Enderby quartet concerns a poet and his muse. Nothing like the Sun re-creates love life of William Shakespeare. He explores the nature of evil with Earthly Powers , a panoramic saga of the 20th century. He published studies of James Joyce, Ernest Miller Hemingway, Shakespeare, and David Herbert Lawrence. He produced the treatises Language Made Plain and A Mouthful of Air . His journalism proliferated in several languages. He translated and adapted Cyrano de Bergerac , Oedipus the King , and Carmen for the stage. He scripted Jesus of Nazareth and Moses the Lawgiver for the screen. He invented the prehistoric language, spoken in Quest for Fire . He composed the Sinfoni Melayu , the Symphony (No. 3) in C , and the opera Blooms of Dublin .
Seriocomic novels of noted British writer and critic Anthony Burgess, pen name of John Burgess Wilson, include the futuristic classic A Clockwork Orange (1962).
He composed also a librettos, poems, plays, screens, and essays and traveled, broadcast, translated, linguist and educationalist. He lived for long periods in southeastern Asia, the United States of America, and Europe along Mediterranean Sea as well as England. His fiction embraces the Malayan trilogy ( The Long Day Wanes ) on the dying days of empire in the east. The Enderby quartet concerns a poet and his muse. Nothing like the Sun re-creates love life of William Shakespeare. He explores the nature of evil with Earthly Powers , a panoramic saga of the 20th century. He published studies of James Joyce, Ernest Miller Hemingway, Shakespeare, and David Herbert Lawrence. He produced the treatises Language Made Plain and A Mouthful of Air . His journalism proliferated in several languages. He translated and adapted Cyrano de Bergerac , Oedipus the King , and Carmen for the stage. He scripted Jesus of Nazareth and Moses the Lawgiver for the screen. He invented the prehistoric language, spoken in Quest for Fire . He composed the Sinfoni Melayu , the Symphony (No. 3) in C , and the opera Blooms of Dublin .
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
February 7, 2023
"Never since has there arisen a prophet in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face."
Deut. 34:10
Technically, this is a poem, which some might find daunting, but it's easy to read and easier to get lost in the story.
Burgess doesn't sneer at the scripture, or take cheap liberties with the Biblical tale. He does bring the characters involved to life through the inscrutable mist of time, making them relatable, more human rather than simply mythical, to modern readers while providing a new lens through which to view and ponder the Exodus story and its ultimate legacy - "THE LAW."
5 stars - would recommend to anyone interested in the Bible and western cultural heritage.
Deut. 34:10
Technically, this is a poem, which some might find daunting, but it's easy to read and easier to get lost in the story.
Burgess doesn't sneer at the scripture, or take cheap liberties with the Biblical tale. He does bring the characters involved to life through the inscrutable mist of time, making them relatable, more human rather than simply mythical, to modern readers while providing a new lens through which to view and ponder the Exodus story and its ultimate legacy - "THE LAW."
5 stars - would recommend to anyone interested in the Bible and western cultural heritage.
May 5, 2020
When most of us think of the story of Moses in cinema it's very likely that we think of Cecil B. DeMille's epic film starring Charlton Heston, with Yul Brynner as the Pharaoh. But in the 1970s there was another film version of the famous story of Exodus, a 6-hour Italian-British TV miniseries with music by Ennio Morricone and a screenplay by Anthony Burgess (yes, THAT Anthony Burgess of Clockwork Orange fame), with Burt Lancaster in the titular role.
This book is written as an epic poem in the style of Greek and Roman classics by Homer and Ovid. How else to tell one of the greatest stories ever told, a story we tell year after year at Passover Seder tables, in Sunday schools, in Churches and in secular literary circles? Commissioned to write the script for this miniseries, but facing linguistic challenges, Burgess decided to first lay out an epic poem with the Bible as his guide (arguing that an epic poem like The Odyssey "anticipates the cinema").
The verse is at times cumbersome and maybe even a bit clumsy (as to be expected as the framework for a 6-hour miniseries), but also quite beautiful, filled with poetic truths and deep philosophical musings. It's a story we all know and that is as universal now as ever, when we are all in the wilderness trying to find a safe way to the Promised Land. Maybe like Moses (and like Martin Luther King) we shall get to the mountaintop but shall never reach the Promised Land whatever the Promised Land is, with the hope of a better tomorrow always just outside of arm's reach.
And everyone might experience Exodus differently. In slavery people suffered, but they were provided for. When they're free, some will long for slavery again because freedom carries too much weight, too many responsibilities (as Sartre and Tolstoy both tell us in different ways). Some will be hooked by transient pleasures and material distractions (slaves in other ways). Some will care more for their own interests than the common good. We may know that the Promised Land is attainable, but we don't want to put in the efforts and sacrifices it takes to reach it; and we all must go forward together, or else we falter. We are all in some ways Moses, but we are also Pharaoh, also Miriam and Aaron and Zimri. We are all humans seeking for something outside of ourselves, wandering, becoming distracted, abandoning our hopes or maybe pushing on in spite of it all. And maybe some of us will see the Promised Land, whatever that is (a cleaner planet, a more peaceful world, a more just society). And maybe if we don't reach it some of our descendants will. Maybe is a heavy word and it contains all of our collective hopes and disappointments.
This book is written as an epic poem in the style of Greek and Roman classics by Homer and Ovid. How else to tell one of the greatest stories ever told, a story we tell year after year at Passover Seder tables, in Sunday schools, in Churches and in secular literary circles? Commissioned to write the script for this miniseries, but facing linguistic challenges, Burgess decided to first lay out an epic poem with the Bible as his guide (arguing that an epic poem like The Odyssey "anticipates the cinema").
The verse is at times cumbersome and maybe even a bit clumsy (as to be expected as the framework for a 6-hour miniseries), but also quite beautiful, filled with poetic truths and deep philosophical musings. It's a story we all know and that is as universal now as ever, when we are all in the wilderness trying to find a safe way to the Promised Land. Maybe like Moses (and like Martin Luther King) we shall get to the mountaintop but shall never reach the Promised Land whatever the Promised Land is, with the hope of a better tomorrow always just outside of arm's reach.
And everyone might experience Exodus differently. In slavery people suffered, but they were provided for. When they're free, some will long for slavery again because freedom carries too much weight, too many responsibilities (as Sartre and Tolstoy both tell us in different ways). Some will be hooked by transient pleasures and material distractions (slaves in other ways). Some will care more for their own interests than the common good. We may know that the Promised Land is attainable, but we don't want to put in the efforts and sacrifices it takes to reach it; and we all must go forward together, or else we falter. We are all in some ways Moses, but we are also Pharaoh, also Miriam and Aaron and Zimri. We are all humans seeking for something outside of ourselves, wandering, becoming distracted, abandoning our hopes or maybe pushing on in spite of it all. And maybe some of us will see the Promised Land, whatever that is (a cleaner planet, a more peaceful world, a more just society). And maybe if we don't reach it some of our descendants will. Maybe is a heavy word and it contains all of our collective hopes and disappointments.
April 16, 2020
Retiring in mid-February, I foresaw a sedentary future. However, this virus has taken even that to unexpected heights. With my time in isolation (so to speak; after all, I do have a family), I’ve been able to read Moses, a fictional narrative based on the biblical figure’s life by Anthony Burgess.
While most know Burgess for Clockwork Orange, that’s hardly his best. He is the primary reason I pursued an MFA after a 15-year absence from school.
Now I recall why I love (and envy) his writing so much. Moses is a bit closer to two of his earlier works: Napoleon Symphony, where he presents his interpretation of the diminutive conqueror’s life while dividing the book into four sections attempting to replicate the pacing of Beethoven’s Third Symphony, and Man of Nazareth, a look at the life of Jesus as narrated by a Greek merchant returning from business in Jerusalem at the time of the crucifixion.
Moses strikes out on its own in several ways, beginning with its structure. A narrative in verse. it reminds the reader of the Greek epic poems. It humanizes its characters—even Ramses. Moses himself suffers from a speech impediment. This is not unexpected for readers familiar with Burgess; most of his characters with outward defects tend to be the only complete person: recall the grotesque minister defending Alex in Clockwork Orange or the narrator’s disfigured sister in Earthly Powers.
But, like all things coming from Burgess, there are lessons to derive from this one. Issues such as free will, individual responsibility, and respect for simply stated (not grandiose and intricate) law are chief among those. This may be one of the easiest books from Burgess to read although I’d still recommend having a dictionary handy since the linguistic “tricks” found in his diction are always entertaining.
While most know Burgess for Clockwork Orange, that’s hardly his best. He is the primary reason I pursued an MFA after a 15-year absence from school.
Now I recall why I love (and envy) his writing so much. Moses is a bit closer to two of his earlier works: Napoleon Symphony, where he presents his interpretation of the diminutive conqueror’s life while dividing the book into four sections attempting to replicate the pacing of Beethoven’s Third Symphony, and Man of Nazareth, a look at the life of Jesus as narrated by a Greek merchant returning from business in Jerusalem at the time of the crucifixion.
Moses strikes out on its own in several ways, beginning with its structure. A narrative in verse. it reminds the reader of the Greek epic poems. It humanizes its characters—even Ramses. Moses himself suffers from a speech impediment. This is not unexpected for readers familiar with Burgess; most of his characters with outward defects tend to be the only complete person: recall the grotesque minister defending Alex in Clockwork Orange or the narrator’s disfigured sister in Earthly Powers.
But, like all things coming from Burgess, there are lessons to derive from this one. Issues such as free will, individual responsibility, and respect for simply stated (not grandiose and intricate) law are chief among those. This may be one of the easiest books from Burgess to read although I’d still recommend having a dictionary handy since the linguistic “tricks” found in his diction are always entertaining.
July 7, 2015
I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/13464997
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/13464997
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May 1, 2017Edition: Stated First Printing
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews