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The Poem of Queen Esther by Joaao Pinto Delgado
Hardcover
About the author
David R. Slavitt
159 books10 followersDavid Rytman Slavitt was an American writer, poet, and translator, the author of more than 100 books.
Slavitt has written a number of novels and numerous translations from Greek, Latin, and other languages. Slavitt wrote a number of popular novels under the pseudonym Henry Sutton, starting in the late 1960s. The Exhibitionist (1967) was a bestseller and sold over four million copies. He has also published popular novels under the names of David Benjamin, Lynn Meyer, and Henry Lazarus. His first work, a book of poems titled Suits for the Dead, was published in 1961. He worked as a writer and film critic for Newsweek from 1958 to 1965.
According to Henry S. Taylor, winner of the 1986 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, "David Slavitt is among the most accomplished living practitioners" of writing, "in both prose and verse; his poems give us a pleasurable, beautiful way of meditating on a bad time. We can't ask much more of literature, and usually we get far less." Novelist and poet James Dickey wrote, "Slavitt has such an easy, tolerant, believable relationship with the ancient world and its authors that making the change-over from that world to ours is less a leap than an enjoyable stroll. The reader feels a continual sense of gratitude."
Slavitt has written a number of novels and numerous translations from Greek, Latin, and other languages. Slavitt wrote a number of popular novels under the pseudonym Henry Sutton, starting in the late 1960s. The Exhibitionist (1967) was a bestseller and sold over four million copies. He has also published popular novels under the names of David Benjamin, Lynn Meyer, and Henry Lazarus. His first work, a book of poems titled Suits for the Dead, was published in 1961. He worked as a writer and film critic for Newsweek from 1958 to 1965.
According to Henry S. Taylor, winner of the 1986 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, "David Slavitt is among the most accomplished living practitioners" of writing, "in both prose and verse; his poems give us a pleasurable, beautiful way of meditating on a bad time. We can't ask much more of literature, and usually we get far less." Novelist and poet James Dickey wrote, "Slavitt has such an easy, tolerant, believable relationship with the ancient world and its authors that making the change-over from that world to ours is less a leap than an enjoyable stroll. The reader feels a continual sense of gratitude."
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
March 16, 2026
Overall I'm not all that fond of the poetry here: the rhyme scheme (ABCBDD) is one of those that's just noticeable enough to be distracting without actually sounding good, and the lines are sometimes very clunky. I assume that Slavitt did his best to translate both the meaning and the form, but I'm curious if it comes off better in the original Spanish.
There are things to like and dislike about the story. For one, it's another retelling that tries too hard to make Ahasuerus sympathetic—I know him being a simp for Esther is canon, but he doesn't need to be this flowery about it, and Delgado makes him a simp for Vashti, too. I feel like he wanted to portray him as having a redemption arc, but it doesn't really work, because he never lets him be evil in the first place (thanks to just gliding over his support for genocide as quickly as possible). There are moments when Haman feels like an interesting evil villain, and others where he's a bit too obvious about it. Mordecai and Esther aren't really developed beyond being embodiments of pure goodness. C'mon, I want to see Esther struggle with being married to a pagan tyrant, not just blindly assured of God's plan the whole time.
There are some insightful or clever lines and metaphors, and other parts where it's strained or devolves into an unfunny joke.
So, yeah: "mixed bag" is the best description I can come up with for this. I think the most interesting part is the meta, that it's a crypto-Jew who fled from persecution looking back at a Biblical story of persecution and hidden identities. I'm still not sure why the evil king is treated with kid gloves, but it does help explain how triumphal the tone becomes when the Jews are allowed to kill their enemies. And good for them, I say.
There are things to like and dislike about the story. For one, it's another retelling that tries too hard to make Ahasuerus sympathetic—I know him being a simp for Esther is canon, but he doesn't need to be this flowery about it, and Delgado makes him a simp for Vashti, too. I feel like he wanted to portray him as having a redemption arc, but it doesn't really work, because he never lets him be evil in the first place (thanks to just gliding over his support for genocide as quickly as possible). There are moments when Haman feels like an interesting evil villain, and others where he's a bit too obvious about it. Mordecai and Esther aren't really developed beyond being embodiments of pure goodness. C'mon, I want to see Esther struggle with being married to a pagan tyrant, not just blindly assured of God's plan the whole time.
There are some insightful or clever lines and metaphors, and other parts where it's strained or devolves into an unfunny joke.
So, yeah: "mixed bag" is the best description I can come up with for this. I think the most interesting part is the meta, that it's a crypto-Jew who fled from persecution looking back at a Biblical story of persecution and hidden identities. I'm still not sure why the evil king is treated with kid gloves, but it does help explain how triumphal the tone becomes when the Jews are allowed to kill their enemies. And good for them, I say.
Displaying 1 of 1 review