![]() ![]() That great novel is told almost in the form of a Bible tale and in a rich language that is freighted with significance yet totally accessible. ![]() ![]() Wangerin's past novels include distinctive fantasies, like The Book of the Dun Cow. Given the immensity of these tasks it will be the rare author indeed who succeeds, but Walter Wangerin does so brilliantly in Jesus: a Novel. And, perhaps hardest of all, he must write a few moments into his text that will move a reader as profoundly as the Gospels do, and manage this despite the fact that we obviously know what's coming. He must both remain true to that source and, at the same time, depart enough to justify our not just reading the original. Among them, he must achieve a voice distinctive enough to stand comparison with his source. ![]() The writer then who undertakes a reverent novelization of the Gospels, or any Bible story really, must respond to a series of unique challenges. And the influence of the King James version of the Bible is so pervasive in the English-speaking world that not only can we be said to all know those stories in identical wording but the word choices and phrases therein, to a considerable extent, shaped the very language we all speak today. No stories are better known or fiercely treasured than those in the Bible. ![]()
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