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The Prophet
A gripping novel re. the coming King told from the standpoint of prophesy. Written in a style that is both informed and compelling! Hard read to put down!
- GenresHistorical Fiction
Hardcover
First published June 1, 1955
1 person is currently reading
52 people want to read
About the author
Sholem Asch
259 books36 followersPolish-American writer Sholem Asch (also written Shalom Ash, Yiddish: שלום אַש, Polish: Szalom Asz) sought to reconcile Judaism and Christianity in his controversial novels, such as
The Nazarene
(1939).
Sholem Asch composed dramas and essays in the language.
Frajda Malka bore Asch and nine other children to Moszek Asz, a cattle-dealer and innkeeper. Asch received tradition and as a young man followed, obtained a more liberal education at Włocławek, and supported with letters for the illiterate townspeople. He moved to Warsaw and met and married Mathilde Shapiro, the daughter of Menahem Mendel Shapiro. The Haskalah or Hebrew enlightenment initially influenced Asch, but Isaac Leib Peretz convinced him to switch.
Plot of God of Vengeance , his drama of 1907 features a lesbian relationship in a brothel.
He traveled to Palestine in 1908 and to the United States in 1910.
His Kiddush ha-Shem in 1919 in the earliest historical modern literature concerns the anti-Semitic uprising of Khmelnytsky in mid-17th century Ukraine.
He sat out World War I in the United States and a naturalized as a citizen in 1920. He returned.
People celebrated a 12-volume set of his collected works, published in his own lifetime in the early 1920s.
When people performed God of Vengeance , the highly esteemed play, on Broadway in 1923, authorities arrested and successfully prosecuted the entire cast on obscenity charges despite the fact that people in Europe already translated it into German, Russian, Hebrew, Italian, Czech, and Norwegian.
Farn Mabul ( Before the Flood , translated as Three Cities ), his trilogy of 1929 to 1931, describes early 20th century life in Saint Petersburg, Warsaw, and Moscow.
In 1932, the republic awarded the decoration of Polonia Restituta, and the club of poets, essayists, and novelists (PEN) elected him honorary president.
He later moved to France and visited Palestine again in 1936. Dos Gezang fun Tol ( The Song of the Valley ) about the halutzim or Zionist pioneers in Palestine reflects his visit of 1936 to that region.
He set his Bayrn Opgrunt (1937), translated as The Precipice , in Germany during the hyperinflation of the 1920s.
He settled in the United States in 1938.
He, however, later offended sensibilities with The Apostle , and Mary , parts of his trilogy, which in 1939 to 1949 dealt with subjects of New Testament. The Forward , leading language newspaper of New York, dropped him and openly attacked him for promotion.
Asch spent most his last two years in Bat Yam near Tel Aviv, Israel but died in London. His house in Bat Yam now houses his namesake museum. Yale University holds the bulk of his library, which contains rare books and manuscripts, including some of his own works.
Sholem Asch composed dramas and essays in the language.
Frajda Malka bore Asch and nine other children to Moszek Asz, a cattle-dealer and innkeeper. Asch received tradition and as a young man followed, obtained a more liberal education at Włocławek, and supported with letters for the illiterate townspeople. He moved to Warsaw and met and married Mathilde Shapiro, the daughter of Menahem Mendel Shapiro. The Haskalah or Hebrew enlightenment initially influenced Asch, but Isaac Leib Peretz convinced him to switch.
Plot of God of Vengeance , his drama of 1907 features a lesbian relationship in a brothel.
He traveled to Palestine in 1908 and to the United States in 1910.
His Kiddush ha-Shem in 1919 in the earliest historical modern literature concerns the anti-Semitic uprising of Khmelnytsky in mid-17th century Ukraine.
He sat out World War I in the United States and a naturalized as a citizen in 1920. He returned.
People celebrated a 12-volume set of his collected works, published in his own lifetime in the early 1920s.
When people performed God of Vengeance , the highly esteemed play, on Broadway in 1923, authorities arrested and successfully prosecuted the entire cast on obscenity charges despite the fact that people in Europe already translated it into German, Russian, Hebrew, Italian, Czech, and Norwegian.
Farn Mabul ( Before the Flood , translated as Three Cities ), his trilogy of 1929 to 1931, describes early 20th century life in Saint Petersburg, Warsaw, and Moscow.
In 1932, the republic awarded the decoration of Polonia Restituta, and the club of poets, essayists, and novelists (PEN) elected him honorary president.
He later moved to France and visited Palestine again in 1936. Dos Gezang fun Tol ( The Song of the Valley ) about the halutzim or Zionist pioneers in Palestine reflects his visit of 1936 to that region.
He set his Bayrn Opgrunt (1937), translated as The Precipice , in Germany during the hyperinflation of the 1920s.
He settled in the United States in 1938.
He, however, later offended sensibilities with The Apostle , and Mary , parts of his trilogy, which in 1939 to 1949 dealt with subjects of New Testament. The Forward , leading language newspaper of New York, dropped him and openly attacked him for promotion.
Asch spent most his last two years in Bat Yam near Tel Aviv, Israel but died in London. His house in Bat Yam now houses his namesake museum. Yale University holds the bulk of his library, which contains rare books and manuscripts, including some of his own works.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 2, 2020
The second Isaiah preached in Babylon during the Jewish captivity, telling how Cyrus would set the Jews free to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple. He was not well received.
December 25, 2022
Then premise of this novel should be fascinating for those who have an interest in Bible studies and scholarship, Zionism, Jewish life and also enjoy reading fiction. Imagine a fictionalized spiritual biography of the conjectured author of DeuteroIsaiah, set at the time just prior to the restoration (about 530 BCE, I would guess). The story line includes echos of what an observer of Jewish life during the 1950's who might see parallels between what he saw in the half century preceding the writing of his novel and the historical setting of the story that he was writing. The tone, in my opinion, captures a spirit of optimism and vision that existed at the time, despite the horrific setbacks of the Holocaust and the economic and security challenges that Israel was facing, and which has been replaced by cynicism.
The author muses about the social context in which particular prophetic visions were said, including most well-known in Isaiah: the apocalypse, the suffering servant and the meaning of suffering, the heralding of the era of peace and Zion as the light unto the nations. He muses about the political conditions underlying some unexplained biblical narratives, he deals with capriciousness and cynical manipulation of public opinion and religious faith, popular reaction to discrepancies between religious teachings and external reality, and how clerics deal with those discrepancies.
The style of this novel is definitely not in keeping with the taste of the modern reader. Long quotes of biblical passages, flowery descriptions of scenery, characters, moods, ruminations, and other side bars which were the bread and butter of readers who lived before the advent of television and internet slow down the plot considerably and might sometimes test the patience of a modern reader wanting the author to get to the point. Reading is further encumbered by the translation, which lacks a flowing and transparent quality. Halfway through the book, I lost it, and downloaded a Yiddish version from the Yiddish book centre. Big difference. Perhaps a new translation can better draw a reader in, even if nothing can be done about the melodrama. Still, I wonder. The Yiddish of the book is a literary version of the Yiddish that I had heard at home. I have been told by Charedim my age (60's) who live in Yiddish speaking ghettos that their children would consider my Yiddish archaic and would not understand some of the idiom and nuances that I use. So I wonder...
The author muses about the social context in which particular prophetic visions were said, including most well-known in Isaiah: the apocalypse, the suffering servant and the meaning of suffering, the heralding of the era of peace and Zion as the light unto the nations. He muses about the political conditions underlying some unexplained biblical narratives, he deals with capriciousness and cynical manipulation of public opinion and religious faith, popular reaction to discrepancies between religious teachings and external reality, and how clerics deal with those discrepancies.
The style of this novel is definitely not in keeping with the taste of the modern reader. Long quotes of biblical passages, flowery descriptions of scenery, characters, moods, ruminations, and other side bars which were the bread and butter of readers who lived before the advent of television and internet slow down the plot considerably and might sometimes test the patience of a modern reader wanting the author to get to the point. Reading is further encumbered by the translation, which lacks a flowing and transparent quality. Halfway through the book, I lost it, and downloaded a Yiddish version from the Yiddish book centre. Big difference. Perhaps a new translation can better draw a reader in, even if nothing can be done about the melodrama. Still, I wonder. The Yiddish of the book is a literary version of the Yiddish that I had heard at home. I have been told by Charedim my age (60's) who live in Yiddish speaking ghettos that their children would consider my Yiddish archaic and would not understand some of the idiom and nuances that I use. So I wonder...
January 13, 2026
Heavily overwritten. Started off well with the description of a balthazzar in Babylon but things started going south with his revisionist tendencies, not of history but his tikkunist revisions. If that wasn't enough, the Prophet, always unnamed naturally enough, has a deep meaningful vision of Mother Israel. I bailed at chapter 5. Luckily it was a cheap book.
January 15, 2021
Not an especially easy read, but definitely worth the effort.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews