Women in the Old Testament: Twenty Psychological Portraits (1949 Lofts), novel

Women in the Old Testament: Twenty Psychological Portraits (1949) is a novel by Norah Lofts.

Abstract

"There was once, in the journalistic world, a slogan which ran Women are always news and even now, in the nineteen-forties it does not seem to be quite outworn. The very existence of the series to which this book belongs, Women in . . . pre-supposes that there is something automatically interesting, almost automatically romantic, in merely belonging to the female sex, and that when any woman engages in any specific activity outside strictly functional ones, more people are interested in the process and in the result than they would be if the same process were followed, the same result achieved, by a man. The only valid reason that I can see for this focussing of interest upon the female is that in any assembly attention is always directed if only for a moment towards the latest arrival and Woman arrived late upon the outer, public scene, just as she ar rived late if we believe the story of the Creation upon the actual planet. Men have done and thought and achieved things un til doing and thinking and achieving have become commonplace then some woman does, thinks, achieves, and interest immediately revives. It is not entirely flattering to Woman a little reminiscent of Dr. Johnsons comment upon the performing dog. How ever, that cannot be helped and the author of Women in the Old Testament together with those of Women in Art and Women in Crime and all the other exploiters of this curious interest in the female, must be grateful that the general, if un acknowledged, opinion of women is so low that the words Woman SweepsChimney would make an arresting headline even in these days of paper shortage. So here is a book, written by a woman, about a group of people who have nothing in common save their sex and the fact that their names or their stories happen to be included in what is one ix x foreword of the most magnificent pieces of history in the whole of litera tureif not the most magnificent. There are twenty of them and they differ from one another far more sharply than would the next twenty women you would meet in the busiest London street different as they would be, could you know their stories They range from simple nomadic desert women to palace-bred princesses here are women of sound good practical sense and mystics prudes and harlots women who have attained immortality because some man once looked upon them with love, and women who by their own actions influenced the history and thought of their times. I have never, during the long time in which I have been writ ing this book, been blind to the fact a rather terrible fact that, compared with the Old Testament, dynamite is a harmless sub stance, lightly to be handled. More blood has been shed, more venom exuded, over this one volume than over any other book in the world. The Old Testament founded Salt Lake City the Old Testament justified the Puritans and the Covenanters. With a single simple sentence, Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live, it set a monstrous machinery in motion, both in Europe and America. I am inclined to think that no one is entirely responsible for his or her attitude towards the Old Testament. It is one of the fundamentals like sex or money to which we are conditioned in our childhood and subsequently are bound to accept either as Holy Writ, a bogey outgrown, or an interesting, curious piece of literature. For those in whose childhood it loomed large, something remains until the end, even it be only a faint, yearning nostalgia for the time when we did believe that the earth was created and populated with every living thing in the space of six days, and that cheeky children were in danger of being immediately devoured by bears...."--Publisher description.

"Here are portraits of twenty out-standing women old Testament, written in colorful, vivid prose by an author who is a woman herself. These old Testament women differ sharply one from another. They range from simple women of the desert to magnificent princesses; these are women of practical common sense and women of a mystical turn of mind: Harlots and prudes, and women who by their actions have shaped history. Sarah, Hagar. Ruth, Delilah, Jael, and the Queen of Sheba, all these characters are pictured in striking contrast, and their adventurous, romantic lives read like fiction. The women of the old Testament have never been singled out before as distinct personalities for a treatment of this length and comprehensiveness. Mrs. Lofts has an easy and graphic style which is readable and yet not oversimplified. She has an unusual capacity for making characters stand out in three dimensions as living beings against the vivid background of their time. This is particularly true in such chapters as the one on Esther which begins with the history back of the story - the sack of Jerusalem, the carrying off of the Jewish captives, the fall of Babylon and the rise of the Persian empire »- and thus sets the stage tor the entrance of the young queen-to-be. The Old Testament, writes Mrs. Lofts, is one of the most magnificent pieces of history in the whole of literature. The thing she most wishes for this book is that people should read the Old Testament and enjoy it for the magnificent drama that it is."--Publisher description.

Editions

Published in New York, NY: Macmillan, 1949.

Contens

Sarah and Hagar -- Rebekah -- Leah and Rachel -- Potiphar's wife -- Rahab -- Jephthah's daughter -- Deborah and Jael -- Delilah -- Ruth -- Michal -- Bathsheba -- The woman of En-Dor -- A nameless woman -- The Queen of Sheba -- Jezebel -- Naaman's wife's little maid -- Esther.