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The Gospel According to the Son (1997) is a novel by Norman Mailer.

Abstract

The autobiography of Jesus, written by him as a first-person account, after his ascension into heaven. The novel opens with his youth as a carpenter, gives his reaction to God's announcement of his mission to save mankind, and describes the terror of the crucifixion, and finally his resurrection and ascension into heaven. Jesus analyzes his two sides--the divine and the human--and recalls his debates with the devil.

"Norman Mailer fused fact and fiction to create indelible portraits of such figures as Marilyn Monroe, Gary Gilmore, and Lee Harvey Oswald. In The Gospel According to the Son, Mailer reimagines, as no other modern author has, the key character of Western history. Here is Jesus Christ’s story in his own words: the discovery of his divinity and the painful, powerful journey to accepting and expressing it, “as if I were a man enclosing another man within.” In its brevity and piercing simplicity, it may be Mailer’s most accessible, direct, and heartfelt work."--Publisher description.

Editions

Published in New York, NY: Random House, 1997.

Translations

Translated into several languages, including:

• Il vangelo secondo il figlio = The Gospel According to the Son (1997 Mailer / Marenco), novel (Italian ed.)

• Evandelje po Sinu (1997 Mailer / Szabó), novel (Croatian ed.)

• El evangelio según el hijo (1997 Mailer / Costa Picazo), novel (Spanish ed.)

• Ewangelia wedlug Syna (1998 Mailer / Zychowicz), novel (Polish ed.)

• L'Evangeli segons el Fill (1998 Mailer / Fulquet), novel (Catalan ed.)

• O Evangelho segundo o Filho (1998 Mailer / Pinto Rodrigues), novel (Portuguese ed.)

• Evangelium enligt Jesus (1998 Mailer / Lanzon), novel (Swedish ed.)

• Kiseki (1998 Mailer / Saito), novel (Japanese ed.)

• A Fiú evangéliuma (1998 Mailer / Szur-Szabó), novel (Hungarian ed.)

• El Evangelio según el Hijo (1998 Mailer / Alou), novel (Spanish ed.)

• Evanjelium podl'a Syna (1998 Mailer), novel (Slovak ed.)

• Pojan evankeliumi (1998 Mailer / Salojärvi), novel (Finnish ed.)

• Das Jesus-Evangelium (1998 Mailer / Starkmann), novel (German ed.)

• L'Evangile selon le fils (1998 Mailer / Lambrechts), novel (French ed.)

• Evangeliet ifølge sønnen (1999 Mailer / Gulstad), novel (Danish ed.)

• Evanghelia dupa Fiul (2000 Mailer / Horea), novel (Romanian ed.)

• Ha-Besorah `al-pi ha-ben (2000 Mailer / Tsukerman), novel (Hebrew ed.)

• Evangelie ot Syna Bozhiia (2001 Mailer / Varshaver), novel (Russian ed.)

• Yesu ui ilgi (2002 Mailer / Cho), novel (Korean ed.)

• Bir de beni dinleyin! (2003 Mailer / Alioglu), novel (Turkish ed.)

Serbian tr. / by Nada Cusic (Beograd, 1997)

/ Russian tr. / by Olga Varshaver (Moskva, 1998) / Japanese tr. / by Kenichi Saito (Tokyo, 1998) / Swedish tr. / by Leif Janzon (Stockholm,1998) / Hungarian tr. / by Szur-Szabó Katalin (Budapest, 1998) / Portuguese tr. / by Fernanda Pinto Rogdrigues (Lisboa, 1998) / Polish tr. / by Elzbieta Zychowicz (1998) / Slovak tr. / (Bratislava, 1998) / Finnish tr. / (Helsinki, 1998) (2000) / Hebrew tr. / by Amir Tsukerman (Tel Aviv, 2000) / Romanian tr. / (Bucarest, 2000) (2002) / Korean tr. / (Seul, 2002) (2003) / Turkish tr. / (Istanbul, 2003)

Synopsis

In the novel, Jesus goes through the events of the canonical gospels while adding to and “correcting” the events of his life. He says that though the writers of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John had good intentions, they failed to describe his story with complete accuracy, saying they were prone to exaggeration and elaboration. Of particular note is Jesus’ description of his childhood. In the other gospel accounts, Jesus is described as a messiah in disguise, a healer, or the Messiah who proclaims to be such. In this account, however, Jesus is only made aware of his status as the Messiah at the age of 30. The only time he describes having any knowledge that he was different from those in his community is when he is twelve and his father Joseph tells him of his virgin birth. He develops a long fever for a time after and forgets all that he was told. That is, until he is 30 and visits his cousin John the Baptist, where he is baptized and he begins to understand his status at the Messiah. Throughout the rest of the book, Jesus comes to grips with why the Lord would choose him. He is a sinner, but he doesn’t have much to confess outside of lustful thoughts in the night. He is surprised by his own miracles: when he walks on water he describes himself as all of the sudden rising above the water’s surface; when he cures a leper he asks the Lord for power, uncertain of what the result will be. He describes himself understanding more and more each day the reasons the Lord had chosen him, apparently because of his bond with the Holy Spirit. Jesus’ relationship with Satan is also highlighted, with Satan apparently possessing as much power over the world as God the Father. Jesus gives his account of his time on the cross, describing the emotional and physical pain of the experience, but staying close to the original texts, ascribing Jesus’ last words as those found in the canonical gospels, with the very final ones being, “It is finished,” and his last thoughts being of the poor. The book ends with Jesus’ ascension to heaven and his thoughts about the Father, the Jews’ and Pontius Pilate’s respective roles in his death, and his affinity for the poor. -- Stephanie Berliant, University of Michigan

External links

• Wikipedia