Short Cuts: Selected Stories

Book Description

A movie tie-in edition to the brilliant new film by Robert Altman, based on these nine stories by Carver, "one of the great short story writers of our time--of any time" (Philadelphia Inquirer).

Customer Reviews:

One of the most exquisite collections of short stories you'll find.......2006-09-24

Carver portrays the banal, mundane, and unknown of life in his exquisite collection of short stories. It is the spouse who after twenty-five years of the same monotonous routine, breaks out and acts in ways that are inconsistent. Showing the psychological buildup of internal angst and tension is what Carver has mastered. He has a way exposing the hidden desire and passion that stem from the dark corners of the psyche. According to Joseph Campbell, many people are uncomfortable reading these types of stories.

The emotional charge that comes from Carver's careful observation takes his writing to the level of masterpiece literature. The narrative observatory techniques in the third person are detached and objective. A few of Carver's stories are written in first person, which give him an opportunity to get inside his protagonist, but even here, Carver chooses to stay at a distance, allowing the reader to dally in ambiguity.

Great introduction to a great writer..........2004-10-07

In my opinion, Raymond Carver is among the top five short story writers of the twentieth century. His stories are bold, contemporary, and never boring. This compilation - used to make the Altman film - is a superb sampling of his work. Some of his best stories are here, such as "Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?," "So Much Water So Close to Home," and the heartbreaking, "A Small, Good Thing." "Tell the Women We're Going" is one of the most shocking short stories I've read recently. In his introduction, Robert Altman writes, "what he really did was capture the wonderful idiosyncrasies of human behavior, the idiosyncrasies that exist amid the randomness of life's experiences." This is a good introduction to his work.

Edge of my seat.......2004-01-12

I was truly on the edge of my seat during these stories. They are beautifully written. I plan on re-reading these stories for years to come.

worth reading, though I don't love every story.......2003-03-12

Though these stories together tend to leave one rather depressed, they are still worth reading for the glimpses of the characters' lives they offer. Furthermore, some, especially "A Small, Good Thing" are less depressing and, in my mind, actually very good.
Don't assume you know these stories because you've seen the film of the same name directed by Robert Altman. He said himself (in the book's intro, actually) that he took liberties with them, and believe you me, he REALLY did. You may even appreciate the stories more after seeing the film. I did, but that might be just me.
Do take a look at these stories regardless, though!

Raymond Carver is an exceptional short story writer.......2002-07-22

Robert Altman made a wonderful film in the 90s based on 9 short stories published by famous American short story writer Raymond Carver. The film was entitled "Short Cuts" and this publication brings together these 9 stories (including a poem) which were culled from several original Carver publications. The book opens with an introduction by Altman who confesses to taking small liberties with Carver's stories and its characters but without compromising their integrity. Those who have seen the movie will concede that the changes in fact give the entity a coherence that would otherwise be missing. But as a collection of short stories. they can and should be read as standalones. Carver is a master of social commentary, using anecdotes of casual human behaviour to capture the absurdity of modern American life. These candid snapshots may not conform with the dictates of conventional fictional writing in that they may lack a beginning, distinct plot development and a neat ending. Often it isn't even the events that trigger off the response of the characters that are significant but the fact that they respond in a certain way that is interesting from the view point of understanding human behaviour. Carver seems to be saying that sometimes the strange things that happen to us are all due to chance and that like it or not, we need to factor chance into the equation of living. As a short story writer, Carver is exceptional. He has that rare ability to communicate some essential truth about the human condition without using melodrama or any of the other techniques frequently used by lesser writers to captivate and sustain our interest. The 9 stories in this collection are individually separate entities which exist in their own right. No character appears anywhere but in the story he originates from. The situations they capture are also pretty diverse. Yet, they don't seem disjointed when you read them in sequence. They are thematically bound together by Carver's magic which may be hard to define but there all the same. I found every one of them absorbing and captivating. Read this first before you watch the movie. You'll enjoy both better.

Average customer rating:

Short Cuts. Selected Stories.
Raymond Carver , Robert Altman , and Carola Jeschke
Manufacturer: Reclam, Ditzingen
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 3150090792

Average customer rating:

Short Cuts Selected Stories
Raymond Carver
Manufacturer: VINTAGE BOOKS @
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000VLVDLS

Amazon.com

With her first book, As Meat Loves Salt, Maria McCann joins a small, esteemed company of writers--Umberto Eco and Gore Vidal among them--whose historical novels are meticulously researched, politically acute, and rattling good reads. Set in the 17th century, during the English civil war, As Meat Loves Salt follows the misadventures of Jacob, born a gentleman but raised a servant, whose overdeveloped sense of personal dignity leads him from one crisis to another. When the book opens, he is already a murderer. Within a hundred pages he becomes a rapist and a thief. All this is perfect training for a military career, and Jacob soon finds himself in Cromwell's New Model army and in thrall to a charismatic man named Ferris. "It was all pre-ordained," says Jacob later, when the men have deserted together, "there had never been a place where I could have leapt free of the net." Rich with period detail, multilayered, and erotic, this is a big, delicious novel with a hint of crunchy intellection. Expect a lost weekend. --Regina Marler

Book Description

In the seventeenth century, the English Revolution is under way. The nation, seething with religious and political discontent, has erupted into violence and terror. Jacob Cullen and his fellow soldiers dream of rebuilding their lives when the fighting is over. But the shattering events of war will overtake them.
A darkly erotic tale of passion and obsession, As Meat Loves Salt is a gripping portrait of England beset by war. It is also a moving portrait of a man on the brink of madness. Hailed as a masterpiece, this is a first novel by a most original new voice in fiction.

A Harvest Original

Customer Reviews:

A Tale in Hard Time.......2007-06-02

The Boston Globe called this book "a gripping melodrama", and I believe therein lie both the novel's strength and weaknesses.

The writing itself is lovely, impeccably smooth and musical, which should keep any reader turning the pages. But, essentially it is a long character study, driven by the darkly volcanic personality of the narrator, Jacob Cullen.

As such, the book reaches brilliance only when Jacob's fragile ego spins out of control and into madness, bringing pain and ruin crashing down around him. The quiet middle section of the book, wherein a long, stormy homosexual affair engages Jacob's passions, has its share of longueurs. The subplot about the establishment of a commune simply isn't strong enough, and the character of Jacob fairly cries out for someone or something equal to him to pit himself against. Another reviewer said this would make a good movie... well, the inner dialogues of a tortured man do not translate well to the screen, I'm afraid.

This may be terrific as historical fiction, but as "gay literature" I'm afraid it doesn't match up to "Orlando", "Another Country", "Well of Loneliness", "Brideshead Revisited" or countless others.

It's worth repeating, however, that the language is lovely, and Anglophiles in particular should find delight in a book that has the tone and passion of many of the great narrative ballads that are found in old English folk music.

Moving read.......2007-01-19

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, although I'm a fan of historical fiction admittedly. The story is highly original and had me gripped and moved to tears at the ending (I've since re-read it twice!). Beautifully crafted and dealing with the issue of love between two men in a bygone age, the characters and their interaction being totally believable - obviously very well researched for authenticity.

Heated!.......2006-11-27

The first Half of the book was interesting, but tame. The second half of the book was the wildest sensual ride I have ever been on. It hits you like a brick. I cannot express how erotic this book was. I will never part with it. The ending was not pleasant, but even that could not ruin this great book.

Absolutely Stunning.......2006-07-11

One of the heftiest, most well researched, fascinating, original and heartbreaking novels I have ever read. Utterly beautiful from start to finish. I cannot recommend this novel enough.

Torrid and frustrating.......2006-05-20

I generally really like well-researched historical fiction, and have been a big fan of Dorothy Dunnett and Philippa Gregory (though the latter takes a lot of liberties with history). I was quite drawn into this book from the first sentence, and found the description of life on the manor rich and convincing.

But.

began to switch off around the time we discover Jacob Cullen is possessed? haunted? by a "Voice" that encouraged him to brutally kill a young boy, and then rape his new bride. Jacob ends up in the New Model Army where he forms an intense relationship with Ferris, who is a naturally good man. The descriptions of the war and the brutality are vivid and detailed.

After they get back to London, Ferris becomes obsessed with forming a common plot for "diggers," and he and Jacob form an intense homosexual romance. At that point and for the rest of the book everything was rather overheated and lusty. It seemed like every other page was a description of longing for the embrace or the sweetness between their legs etc. I would have been equally bored if this had been a heterosexual couple, but I couldn't connect this simpering Ferris with the earlier Ferris, and Jacob's bouts of violence began to bore me. The book ends when they've been kicked off the common brutally by the neighboring lord, with the implication that Jacob could have stopped it but just didn't, and Jacob is on a boat to America crying. The Voice is silent.

I feel as though I didn't get it. A number of readers here assume the Voice is a symptom of Jacob's schizophrenia or madness, but it's presented in the book as though it really is the devil. Well, which? Did Jacob rape his own brother when he was a teenager, as implied in one scene? I kind of resented the way the author withheled information from us-- it's first-person narration, but the author only conveniently reveals/remembers these types of things, when for the first 70-80 pages of the book, Jacob is presented as well-liked and decent. It just seemed flashy.

The book's change in focus and tone felt somewhat ad hoc.

Lots of loose threads with Jacob's family. Ultimately, I was disappointed. After zooming through the first half, I just naturally slowed down and took a week to read the rest. By then I was cottoning on that the author was never going to reveal the mysteries, that no one plot was going to develop in a satisfying way, and that she enjoyed vivid descriptions of violence and sex but not deeper characterizations. She can definitely bring a period to life, but the characters were ultimately shadowy and the storytelling was disjointed.

The Way Meat Loves Salt: A Cinderella Tale from the Jewish Tradition

Average customer rating:

A G A I N, ....C H E A T E D ....O F...T H E....B E S T.....!
Mazel Tov!
A Cindrella tale and a love test from the Jewish Tradition
The Jewish Cinderella
A very interesting version of Cinderell

The Way Meat Loves Salt: A Cinderella Tale from the Jewish Tradition
Nina Jaffe
Manufacturer: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Short Story Collections | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0805043845

Book Description

Many years ago in Poland, there lived a rabbi who had a wife and three daughters. One day, the rabbi asks his children a powerful question: "How much do you love me?" His older daughters profess their love in gold and diamonds, but his youngest daughter, Mireleh, declares she loves her father the way meat loves salt. For this remark, she is banished from her father's home. In this flavorful Jewish Cinderella tale, Mireleh's courageous journey is peppered with a perfect blend of magic and romance, leading to a reconciliation with her beloved father. Lavishly illustrated in Louise August's bold linocuts, The Way Meat Loves Salt will make a wonderful gift for the Jewish holidays.

Customer Reviews:

A G A I N, ....C H E A T E D ....O F...T H E....B E S T.....!.......2006-10-23

WHY IS IT THAT in most of the "ethnic" Cinderella stories, that THESE
"Cinderellas" wind up with a rabbi's son, a village chieftan's son,
the rich druggist's son.....but never, (or hardly ever), a REAL Prince?
Why is the REAL prince reserved only for WASPs? (OK -- 99% of the time....still too small a proportion left for us ethnic types, as far
as I'm concerned.)

Yes, this Jewish version does resemble "King Lear". (Which came first, I wonder....Shakespeare or this ethnic Jewish story?) It also somehow
reminds me of "Snow White and Rose Red". I am also somewhat shocked that the Jewish father in this story did NOT know, from the beginning, why Meat Loves Salt. (To make meat kosher, it should be salted first! Meat must love salt because it makes it kosher!) Then again, I'm also aghast that both meat and salt are "anthropormophosed" (made -- at least figuratatively -- into sentient beings, who can "love" each other.) A very famous kosher soup had it's OU endorsement rescinded for just this, (to me) quite trivial reason: they (un-Jewishly????) put a face on a pot of soup. A definite NO-NO, it seems, as far as Jewish tradition is concerned. (Don't worry, guys....I, and I'm sure many others, buy your soup anyway).

No anthropomorphism, no real princes.....no real fun. Christmas envy is bitter-sweet....but I still prefer it over Chanukah. A REAL prince marrying a Jewish girl? Why not? Recently, a major European monarchy welcomed a woman with oart-Aboriginal origins! Why not a REAL Prince for a Jewish girl, too!

Mazel Tov!.......2004-12-16

THE WAY MEAT LOVES SALT is a story that tells a Jewish version of Cinderella. The Cinderella tale is found in some shape or form in every culture around the world, with each culture molding and shaping the story to fit their lifestyle. THE WAY MEAT LOVES SALT is also a story that includes the "love test" (how much do you love me) which is found in literature not only in the West but in other cultures as well. The most famous example of the "love test" is in Shakespeare's KING LEAR. So, basically, THE WAY MEAT LOVES SALT is a combination of the opening of KING LEAR and the entire tale of Cinderella, but set in a Jewish village in Poland.

There once was a rabbi who had three daughters. He loved his daughters very much and would do anything for them. However, one day he wondered, "How much do they love me?" He didn't know and the question troubled him. So, he asks his daughters. The eldest replies that she loves him as much as diamonds. The middle daughter replies that she loves him as much as silver and gold. But the youngest replies that she loves him "the way meat loves salt." The father is furious with such an answer and has no idea what she means. In his fury he kicks her out of the house and banishes her from the family. Thus the poor young girl, Mireleh, sets forth and begins living the life of a servant girl. However, she is assisted by a kindly old man who gives her a magical stick. Mireleh keeps the stick a secret and eventually is taken in by another rabbi and his family and this is where the Cinderella part of the story begins.

The book includes a fine introduction by the author that explains who this particular tale came to be written down and what it's origins are. It also includes the lyrics and music to "Mazel Tov!" on the last page. Louise August created the illustrations and the oil-based paints that were used add to the rick folk flavor of the story. It's a fine story to read and even a better one to tell. After all, exactly what is "the way meat loves salt?"

A Cindrella tale and a love test from the Jewish Tradition.......2004-03-10

"The Way Meat Loves Salt" is subtitled "A Cinderella Tale from the Jewish Tradition," but older readers will recognize a bit of Shakespeare's "King Lear" in the beginning of this tale told by Nina Jaffe. The setting is many years ago in Poland where a rabbi one day asks his three daughters "How much do you love me?" Reyzeleh, the oldest daughter, replies, "I love you as much as diamonds." Khaveleh, the middle child, answers, " I love you as much as gold and silver." However, Mireleh, the youngest daughter, replies "I love you the way meat loves salt," at which point her father banishes her from the home since she has compared him to lowly salt. As to the meaning of Mireleh's comment, that is not yet explained and the rabbi, despite being a student of the Talmud who ponders questions long and hard, spends no time trying to figure out the meaning of his daughter's words.

As for Mireleh, she encounters an old man with shining eyes who gives him a small wooden stick. He sends her off to the home of Rabbi Yitskhok ben Levi, the renown scholar of Lublin, who lives with his wife and son, and explains that the stick is magic: tap in on the ground three times and anything Mireleh wishes for will appear. The young girl is taken into Rabbi Yitskhok's home as a beggar girl and allowed to stay in the attic. When the family goes to Cracow for a wedding, Mireleh longs to attend and uses the magic stick to come up with a dress. At this point we are into the familiar territory of the Cinderella story. But there is still the question of the meaning of Mireleh's words to her father and their reconciliation.

Jaffe notes that the Cinderella tale has been found in countless cultures around the world, with the earliest version being recorded in China in the 9th century. The Jewish version of the tale comes from the story "How Much Do You Love Me?" from the classic collection "Yiddish Folktales," and was apparently sent down in Poland in the 1920s. Jaffe acknowledges that the framing device of "the love test," appears in both Shakespeare and folktales from around the world as well. In Jaffe's hands this becomes a "vunder-mayse" (a wonder tale) of the sort her grandmother might have heard as a child.

"The Way Meat Loves Salt: A Cinderella Tale from the Jewish Tradition" is illustrated by Louise August, who worked with full-color oils on rice paper, providing a rather distinctive look quite compatible with the origins of this story. Teachers or parents will find this story a nice way of showing young readers how there are variations of a well-known theme to be found in literature. What I especially liked about this one is how the elements of a different story, "the love test," are combined in the telling of this particular tale. Consequently we not only have an example of comparative literature here but a look at a more complex form of such storytelling.

The Jewish Cinderella.......2002-09-03

This book is somewhat similar to the Cinderella that I know, but it has a different twist. It combines Cinderella and the Jewish culture. I will leave the rest for you, the reader, to find out what goes on the book.

A very interesting version of Cinderell.......2002-02-23

this is another interesting version of Cinderella, but it also plays off of Shakespeare's King Lear. Look for the reference, shakespeare buffs and I am sure that you will find it. I really think that this books opens up a non-western tale in a traditional way that children will understand.

Average customer rating:

Like Meat Loves Salt
E. Ellis
Manufacturer: Natl Storytelling Network
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette

General | Books on Cassette | Audiobooks | Formats | Books
ASIN: 9992850450

Average customer rating:

As Meat Loves Salt
Maria McCann
Manufacturer: Harvest Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000MBXDMY

Average customer rating:

AS MEAT LOVES SALT
Maria McCann
Manufacturer: Flamingo
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000O8P5U8

Book Description

From a fearless new voice-a writer in the tradition of George Saunders and Jonathan Lethem-comes a collection of fantastical, gut-wrenching stories of an imagined future epoch crippled by the unfulfilled promises of technology. With a heightened sense of the boundless possibility and lurking doom that Orwell and Huxley once envisioned, each of Matthew Derby's stories provides a glimpse into an intricately imagined world-a world in which clouds are treated with behavioral serum, children are handicapped by their ability to float, all food (including Popsicles) is made of meat-and parodies our contemporary notions of family, government, and technology with razor-sharp wit. The result: a book that is both a brilliant satire and an assault on the senses. - Matthew Derby joins the ranks of Jonathan Lethem, Donald Antrim, Kelly Link, Shelley Jackson, et al.-a new generation of writers whose edgy, experimental fiction has achieved critical and popular success.

Customer Reviews:

Creative and Original, But Disorganized To a Fault.......2007-07-23

It is important in America literature that our writers constantly challenge themselves to write progressively and with innovation. While I whole-heartedly believe some literature is meant to be enjoyed by the masses, I also believe there is a niche in the world of literature where it is high art, and therefore unlikely to be enjoyed in the mainstream. That's okay, because art ceases to be art the moment everyone can easily absorb it. It then becomes popular culture.

Super Flat Times is nothing if not original. With this collection of stories, Matthew Derby has proven he has a limitless imagination and absolutely no fear.

However, while I don't require all literature to be easily digestible, I do require that it utilize some semblance of coherence. Super Flat Times does not. Derby has constructed a world throughout its various stages of history, yet he does not offer any consistencies with that world from story to story. Vagueness I can handle; flat out contradiction without purpose I cannot.

As I said, if you'd like a volume with a wild imagination and no restraints, you may enjoy Super Flat Times. But, if you demand some sort of organized plotline with at least a hint of uniformity throughout, I'd pass.

Impossible Given Meaning.......2007-02-25

Sam Coleridge was good at taking things that were impossible and giving them meaning. His poetry was fantastical,creepy, and full of imagination. The same is so in Super Flat Times by Matthew Derby. It's a collection of stories/memoirs/memories/glimpses into some distant future of this world. Apparently clouds have become solid things that scrape and push against the taller buildings. People eat a meat-only diet: It is treated to simulate the taste of other foods like chocolate milk and vegetables. At one time citizens were rounded up and buried alive by the hundreds in concrete pools.

Memories and thoughts are trapped in the air and random objects. They are whispers of those who came before, able to be read and recorded by the author who is collecting them for this book.

Dont expect a full linear story from this read. Instead, expect little pools of twisted memory poking up like glass shards. I don't know how Derby came up with some of this stuff, but he managed to fill it up with truth and pure emotion that reached from the page and pulled on my sensibilities.

Innovative, but somehow empty.......2006-02-21

The introduction to this book was mind-blowingly beautiful, both creative and moving. I had high hopes for the stories which followed, but ultimately I was kind of disappointed by this book. It took me a while to figure out why this was. The author is clearly very talented. His ideas are fresh, sometimes to the point of being bizarre; his writing style is very polished; and his work feels very innovative. It's just that it's hard to find anyone to like in his stories. Most of the characters are unlikable and pathetic jerks.

The stories do remind me a lot of George Saunder's writing style, in their quirkiness and pacing. But unlike many of Saunder's stories, most of the ones in this book don't really have...plots. Not that a plot is the only point of fiction, but I guess I just found myself wanting some rising and falling action, and if not that, a resolution - a sense of hope. I realize that authors must write the world as they see it, but the world he writes about feels utterly devoid of compassion, and this book just started getting depressing after a while. And though the stories were technically good, I got tired of reading the same thing over and over again. Depressing person, experiences some depressing events, thinks some depressing thoughts, the end.

One of the better stories in the book was "The Father Helmet". In this story, the main character is a young boy whose father has died. He lives with a foster father, who is kind of a robot. The boy uses a telepathic helmet to speak to his father - the helmet enables him with practice to speak into his father's mind before he died. Eventually he disobeys the warning labels on the helmet and uses his telepathic influence to avert the events which led to his father's death. His father comes back to life and his robot faster-father instantly disappears. But nothing feels right about the situation. His dad seems out of place; he doesn't belong in this world anymore. The kid misses his foster father and wishes he would have left well enough alone. "So you brought me back from the dead as some sort of experiment?" the father asks. "Sort of," the kid says. This story actually does have a happy ending, kind of. The dad leaves and the kid uses his helmet to bring his foster father back, who is happy that the kid finally appreciates him.

I think this story is the best example of the author's potential. It is not "precious" or "cloying" by any means, but there is still a sense of redemption and hope that make the story feel finished to me. It is dark, but there is a point. But this story was among the best. Many of the other stories just did not have plot arcs or any conclusions. They were just extremely detailed, vivid portraits of unlikable characters living miserable lives, sometimes ending in death, sometimes not. In conclusion, I think Matthew Derby is a really good writer, but I wish he would turn his talents toward writing more hopeful and enjoyable stories.

Super Fine Tome.......2006-02-17

[...]There is an introductory piece and "fragment" before we even get to the first story in this book (which is almost more of a fractured kind of novel than traditional collection of short stories). I find the rest of it consistent with the beginning and completely necessary. I wouldn't trust the opinion of someone who only thumbs through books in the fashion described below anyway. This book is something to be read all the way through. It's even better the second time around and promises to age well and improve with many readings. Brilliantly insightful, painfully humorous, and meticulously well written to boot. Think Nathanael West meets P.K. Dick (Dick needs West's help w/his prose) and someone along the lines of Felipe Alfau or Adolfo Bioys-Casares (or later Borges, for that matter). Please, don't just breeze through a fraction of this (or any other book) at a Borders, or wherever, and walk away with the smug assumption you've skimmed the cream off the thing. Buy this book, read the hell out of it and feel good you're supporting an author who's actually living and working without pandering to the dummied-down tastes of a culture that, quite frankly, seems intent on descending into the kinds of conditions he so aptly and imaginatively describes. This is easily the "Winesburg, Ohio" of the future. Ours.

Save Your $$$.......2005-12-23

The first story is flat-out brilliant. I strongly suggest going to your local bookstore, reading it and walking out into the world with different eyes. But stop reading there, or you'll end up bitter with disappointment. The rest is repetitive write-by-numbers counterculture for the 21st century: derivative, tedious and overblown.

Average customer rating:

It may take me the rest of my life to reflect on and discern the amazing writ!

Very good, easy to read!

Excellent

Dead Sea Scrolls

A little Disappointed

The Dead Sea Scrolls - Revised Edition: A New Translation
Michael O. Wise , Martin G. Abegg , and Edward M. Cook
Manufacturer: HarperOne
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
General | Sacred Writings | Judaism | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
History | Religious Studies | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
Dead Sea Scrolls | Church History | Christianity | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
General | Christianity | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible: The Oldest Known Bible Translated for the First Time into English

The Nag Hammadi Library

The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English (Penguin Classics)

The Gnostic Gospels

The Gospel of Judas

ASIN: 006076662X
Release Date: 2005-10-25

Book Description

A fully revised and updated edition of our translation of the complete Dead Sea Scrolls, making it the definitive translation of the Scrolls in English.

With new texts, updated introductions, a glossary of terms, and other new additions, this will become the definitive translation of the Scrolls, and the lead companion to our other Dead Sea Scrolls Guides: The Meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Dead Sea Scrolls Bible.

Customer Reviews:

It may take me the rest of my life to reflect on and discern the amazing writ!.......2007-07-06

"In their great variety and stunning richness, the Dead Sea Scrolls as captured in this groundbreaking translation offer modern readers an unprecedented glimpse of the complex roots of modern Christianity... texts encompass poetry and prose, teaching parables and magical tales, astrology, apocalyptic visions,..., stories of messiahs and antichrists,"

After Three Decades:
I followed the saga of DSS since I read in 1970 Wilson's account of the discovery, two decades later. I strove to get any information, even John allegro's imaginary cults, but not until the siege was overcome, that few years later I could read, all in one compendium, the text of the Scrolls in plain English. It took its place, in my library, next to The Coptic Gnostic texts. It may take me the rest of my life to reflect on and discern the amazing writ!
Three scholars of the second DSS generation offer a new translation of the Dead Sea Scrolls, integrated with material never published or translated before. The book includes newly published Psalms (151) attributed to David, non-Biblical texts claiming Moses as their author, previously unknown fables about Abraham and Jacob, and many other writings that shed light on non-Temple Jewish thought, parallels showing the Jewish origins of Christianity and the close relationship between Judaism and early Christianity. Some of its amazing texts are, The Damascus Document (Geniza manuscripts), The vision of the Son of God, Psalm 151 (Chanted in the Coptic Church for 17 centuries), The War of the Messiah, Rule of Initiation, between many amazing poetry and prose.

Recent Developments in DSS:
The Dead Sea Scrolls represent a non-rabbinic type of Judaism enhancing our understanding of Second Temple Judaism and of early Christianity. They DSS provide textual treasures for New Testament scholars, and have been called the evolutionary link between Judaism and Christianity, demonstrating a variety of important parallels to Jesus ministry, showing that the Gospel message to be based on, and rooted in Judaism. The major intact texts, from Caves 1 & 11, now housed in the Shrine of the Book museum in Jerusalem, were published by the late fifties. Since then, mostly fragments from Cave 4, about 40% of the Scrolls remained unpublished and were not accessible until 1991.
Almost half of a century after the initial discoveries of the Dead Sea Scrolls, when the academic pressure for publication mounted, general access was granted through the photographs of the Scrolls. Late 1991 the photos were made available by the Biblical Archaeological Society in a computer reconstruction, based on a concordance. A nonofficial edition was announced, and the Huntington Library microfilm files of the scroll photographs were made accessible. In "The Current State of the Dead Sea Scrolls: Are There More Answers than Questions?" L. Grabbe stresses the need for Qumran scholarship to recognize how uncertain is much of our present knowledge of the Qumran material. Following are some issues which enhance your interest in this collection.

Psalm of thanksgiving: A:
I give Thee thanks, Adonai!
For Thou hast placed my soul in the bundle of life,
and Thou has protected me from all the snares of the pit.
And the violent sought my soul, when I trusted in Thy covenant.

The Damascus Document:
In 1896, in Ezra Karaite Synagogue, built Ca. 882 AD in Old Cairo, near Babylon fortress, the Damascus document was discovered amongst other ancient Hebrew manuscripts. The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, half a century later, and the consequent publication of the Cave I first scrolls, marked a turning point in the scholars views on the Damascus Document. The similarity in language between the Qumran material and the Cairo Geniza manuscripts removed all doubt that the Damascus Document was composed during the Second Temple period.

War Scroll and the Essenes:
"The principal defining differences ...are the following: (1) the peace-loving Essenes contrast with the warlike spirit evident in some of the scrolls, especially the War Scroll; (2) the Essenes were mostly celibate, whereas the scrolls include many laws concerning women, children and even sexual intercourse; (3) the Essenes abhorred slavery, while the scrolls legislate the practice; (4) the Essenes took no oaths except when entering the group, whereas the scrolls contain numerous regulations for the taking and voiding of oaths; (5) the Essenes owned no private property, whereas the scroll-writers did; and (6) there are significant differences between the Essenes and the relevant Dead Sea Scrolls regarding entry procedures for new members. Cansdale concludes that the scrolls probably issued from one of the many Jewish sects whose names are not recorded in the meager sources at our disposal, perhaps a sect related to the Sadducees." Michael O Wise

The DSS and Hebrew Bible:
The Scrolls and the Scriptures provides much extensive and helpful information on careful studies of the Qumran documents. Proper study underlines that these documents reflect a much larger community and thought pattern than that of the small Qumran community earlier portrayed by DSS scholars. The scrolls may help us to understand and better interpret the OT Scriptures and the various ways in which these record eschatological and messianic ideas.
The basic problems concerned with the historical and literary context of the scrolls.
In an essay is by P. Davies, "Qumran and the Quest for Historical Judaism," records the uncertainties of our knowledge of who wrote the scrolls and the true meanings of the diversity of this collection, warning against reading them in the light of the rigid notions of late antiquity Judaism.

The DSS and Christianity:
"Those few scholars who persist in the view that a direct link can be made between Qumran and the New Testament are probably constructing an approach to the evidence which cannot be sustained. those links between the Qumran and the New Testament are more likely to be indirect." George Brooke
C. Evans reviews the role of the David figure in the scrolls, stressing how the virtues, achievements and promises of David contribute much to the Messianic character of the scrolls and how these provide a background for the understanding of the early Christian belief of Jesus. In " 'Son of God' as 'Son of Man' in the Dead Sea Scrolls? A Response to John Collins on 4Q246," J. D. G. Dunn contends that the figure of the "son of God" in this document refers to the descendant of David in the messianic prophecy of 2 Sam 7:14.

The Meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls: Their Significance For Understanding the Bible, Judaism, Jesus, and Christianity

The Dead Sea Scrolls: Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek Texts With English Translations : Pseudepigraphic and Non-Masoretic Psalms and Prayers (Dead Sea Scrolls)

Very good, easy to read!.......2007-05-14

This is a must for anyone who wants a complete version of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The edition is very easy to read, the text is of a good size and the paper is nice. The book also lays flat which to me was important. Over all I would highly recommend this to anyone's library. The books are very interesting, but do not really have any kind of odering, most were written to stand on their own. It's a pretty large book so it is not something you can read in one sitting. It is one of those books you use as a continual reference.

Excellent.......2007-05-11

This is my favorite edition / translation of the Scrolls. Very clear, easy to navigate and the commentary is very helpful. Has really enhanced my Bible studies. I highly recommend it.

Dead Sea Scrolls.......2007-01-11

I am very satisfied with this book. My daughter in law is very interested in this subject as I am.

A little Disappointed.......2006-12-24

When I fist heard about the Dead Sea Scrolls, I was under the impression that the contained stories about Jesus.This is not true. It's basically an add on of the Old Testament.On top of that, it's literally bits and pieces of stories that I guess were all that could be salvaged.The only "plus" is that this version includes translation help from the author so that you can at least attempt to figure out what the stories are talking about because without it, they would make no sense whatsoever. But then again, these are translations, and can be influenced by what the authors believe. All in all I don't recommend this book if you are trying to find out any "unknown" information about Jesus, or really anything in general.Good if you want more info from the Old Testament I guess.

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