The simple yet grand language of the King James Bible has pervaded American culture from the beginning--and its powerful eloquence continues to be felt even today. In this book, acclaimed biblical translator and literary critic Robert Alter traces some of the fascinating ways that American novelists--from Melville, Hemingway, and Faulkner to Bellow, Marilynne Robinson, and Cormac McCarthy--have drawn on the rich stylistic resources of the canonical English Bible to fashion their own strongly resonant styles and distinctive visions of reality. Showing the radically different manners in which the words, idioms, syntax, and cadences of this Bible are woven into Moby-Dick, Absalom, Absalom!, The Sun Also Rises, Seize the Day, Gilead, and The Road, Alter reveals the wide variety of stylistic and imaginative possibilities that American novelists have found in Scripture. At the same time, Alter demonstrates the importance of looking closely at the style of literary works, making the case that style is not merely an aesthetic phenomenon but is the very medium through which writers conceive their worlds.
Pen of Iron: American Prose and the King James Bible
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Among the many English translations of the Bible, a single one is responsible for the shape of some of the most iconic works of American literature, argues Alter, a comparative literature professor at University of California, Berkeley. Focusing not on the application of specific content but rather on the more elusive matter of style, Alter, author of more than 20 books, shows how the King James Version (especially its Old Testament) informed the work of Melville, Faulkner, Hemingway, Bellow, Marilynne Robinson, and Cormac McCarthy. Alter's knowledge of Hebrew and its translation in the KJV combined with his sensitivity to the sound and form of the distinctly American Moby-Dick, Absalom, Absalom! and The Road, among others, yield rich insights. By his own admission, Alter may be accused of occasionally overreaching associations. However, even if readers are unconvinced by some of the author's claims, they will find in this book a compelling case for style. Alter masterfully demonstrates how style itself affects and even conveys the meaning and power of great literature. (Apr.)
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Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Review
As a leading scholar and translator of the Bible, who is also deeply knowledgeably about American literature, Robert Alter is ideally suited to study this complicated inheritance. . . . Pen of Iron makes a convincing case that it is impossible to fully appreciate American literature without knowing the King James Bible--indeed, without knowing it almost instinctively, the way generations of Americans used to know it. (Adam Kirsch New Republic)
In Pen of Iron, the eminent Bible scholar and translator Robert Alter recounts a small yet telling part of the story of American literature's attunement to the King James Bible. Exploring the way the KJB has impacted both the prose and worldviews of select American authors--mainly Lincoln, Melville, Faulkner, Hemingway, Bellow, and Cormac McCarthy--Alter shows that, even when they parody it or contend with its legacies (as Melville and Faulkner did), the King James Bible remains an enduring point of reference, if not a moral center of gravity, in their work. (Robert Pogue Harris New York Review of Books)
Alter's short book spins off enough sparkling asides to inspire a shelf of very long volumes. . . . [T]he result is a treasure of insight and a welcome stimulus to Christian reflection. (Mark Noll Books & Culture)
Alter's book is tightly focused and sweeping in the specificity of its claims. He takes a commonplace of conventional wisdom--the ubiquity the Bible once had in American elite culture--to argue that the King James translation created 'the foundational language and symbolic imagery' of the whole of American culture, especially its prose fiction. (David E. Anderson Religion and Ethics Newsweekly)
Pen of Iron is a work of lofty literary scholarship, and Alter is addressing a readership that already speaks his language and is ready to receive his wisdom. Indeed, the book is based on a series of lectures that Alter delivered at Princeton University in 2008. But it is also true to say that he is not unlike a biblical prophet, speaking truth to the power of the popular culture and exhorting us to be better and more discerning reader. (Jonathan Kirsch Jewish Journal)
Alter's intelligent treatments of several major works--principally Moby-Dick, Absalom, Absalom!, Seize the Day, and Marilynne Robinson's justly applauded novel Gilead (2004)--does more than simply explain allusions to biblical texts. He is interested in the ways in which American writers incorporate the stylistic traits of the King James Version for their own purposes, even when they are not themselves rooted in a Christian or biblical world view. (Barton Swaim New Criterion)
This well-written, thought-provoking book doesn't take too long to read. (Christian Century)
Pen of Iron, which reads like a collection of essays, expands our understanding of how the King James Version of the Old Testament has influenced American fiction. Even more, Alter demonstrates the power the style of the translation had on the work of many of our most important writers. (Nancy Coffey Hefferman Anglican And Episcopal History)
Robert Alter is one of our most astute readers of both sacred and secular texts. (Ralph C. Wood Journal of Church and State)
In Pen of Iron, the eminent Bible scholar and translator Robert Alter recounts a small yet telling part of the story of American literature's attunement to the King James Bible. Exploring the way the KJB has impacted both the prose and worldviews of select American authors--mainly Lincoln, Melville, Faulkner, Hemingway, Bellow, and Cormac McCarthy--Alter shows that, even when they parody it or contend with its legacies (as Melville and Faulkner did), the King James Bible remains an enduring point of reference, if not a moral center of gravity, in their work. (Robert Pogue Harris New York Review of Books)
Alter's short book spins off enough sparkling asides to inspire a shelf of very long volumes. . . . [T]he result is a treasure of insight and a welcome stimulus to Christian reflection. (Mark Noll Books & Culture)
Alter's book is tightly focused and sweeping in the specificity of its claims. He takes a commonplace of conventional wisdom--the ubiquity the Bible once had in American elite culture--to argue that the King James translation created 'the foundational language and symbolic imagery' of the whole of American culture, especially its prose fiction. (David E. Anderson Religion and Ethics Newsweekly)
Pen of Iron is a work of lofty literary scholarship, and Alter is addressing a readership that already speaks his language and is ready to receive his wisdom. Indeed, the book is based on a series of lectures that Alter delivered at Princeton University in 2008. But it is also true to say that he is not unlike a biblical prophet, speaking truth to the power of the popular culture and exhorting us to be better and more discerning reader. (Jonathan Kirsch Jewish Journal)
Alter's intelligent treatments of several major works--principally Moby-Dick, Absalom, Absalom!, Seize the Day, and Marilynne Robinson's justly applauded novel Gilead (2004)--does more than simply explain allusions to biblical texts. He is interested in the ways in which American writers incorporate the stylistic traits of the King James Version for their own purposes, even when they are not themselves rooted in a Christian or biblical world view. (Barton Swaim New Criterion)
This well-written, thought-provoking book doesn't take too long to read. (Christian Century)
Pen of Iron, which reads like a collection of essays, expands our understanding of how the King James Version of the Old Testament has influenced American fiction. Even more, Alter demonstrates the power the style of the translation had on the work of many of our most important writers. (Nancy Coffey Hefferman Anglican And Episcopal History)
Robert Alter is one of our most astute readers of both sacred and secular texts. (Ralph C. Wood Journal of Church and State)
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Robert Alter's "Pen of Iron" is an expanded, book-length version of the Spencer Trask Lectures given by the author at Princeton University in April 2008. The subject: the pervasive influence of the King James Bible in American literature from its 1611 publication in England to the present day.
Alter defines the influence of the King James Bible in two ways: As a rich source of ideas, images, and metaphors about God and man, and as a manual of style for a distinctive, classical way of writing. Alter pursues his thesis through a series of examples spanning American literature: Herman Melville's "Moby-Dick", William Faulkner's "Absalom, Absalom!, Saul Bellow's "Seize the Day", Ernest Hemingway's "The Sun Also Rises", Marilynne Robinson's "Gilead", and Cormac McCarthy's "The Road."
In each example, Alter traces elements of plot, language and style back to the bedrock of the King James Bible. As American culture has become more secular, these associations have become less distinct, but Alter argues the King James Bible continues to have an influence as part of our common literary heritage.
Alter writes for the well-informed student of American Literature; the general reader may find this short volume a dry read. However, "Pen of Iron" is highly recommended to its intended audience.
Alter defines the influence of the King James Bible in two ways: As a rich source of ideas, images, and metaphors about God and man, and as a manual of style for a distinctive, classical way of writing. Alter pursues his thesis through a series of examples spanning American literature: Herman Melville's "Moby-Dick", William Faulkner's "Absalom, Absalom!, Saul Bellow's "Seize the Day", Ernest Hemingway's "The Sun Also Rises", Marilynne Robinson's "Gilead", and Cormac McCarthy's "The Road."
In each example, Alter traces elements of plot, language and style back to the bedrock of the King James Bible. As American culture has become more secular, these associations have become less distinct, but Alter argues the King James Bible continues to have an influence as part of our common literary heritage.
Alter writes for the well-informed student of American Literature; the general reader may find this short volume a dry read. However, "Pen of Iron" is highly recommended to its intended audience.
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
By wh48
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Reviewer D. S. Thurlow (above) is right on target in saying that this book is appropriate for its intended audience, i.e., scholars. The book is the only one I've found that examines the effects of the KJV on American literature, a valuable resource for readers interested in various aspects of the English language and anyone who wants to be better educated on the subject. Yet I found the author's vocabulary to be so exclusive that many readers with less extensive vocabularies might give up reading or think the author only a high-brow show-off. Nevertheless, the book reveals some important aspects of famous writers' use of the KJV, illustrating again the Bible's vast influence on the English language and thought, no matter what one believes about it. In addition, the prospective reader should know that Alter deals only with Old Testament texts in American literature, an interesting point for understanding the Bible's literary character. Alter points out that the OT subject matter and historical setting--justice, mercy, national sin, and other subjects of "biblical" proportions (my term, not Alter's)--is far different from that of the New Testament and, therefore, more ripe for use in great literature such as he examines in this book.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
By sandra
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Pen of Iron is a scholarly but very readable book. Dr. Alter takes a challenging subject- the influence of the King James Version of the Bible on American prose- and explicates Moby Dick and Faulkner's Absalm, Absalum in an erudite but accessible way. I enjoyed the book immensely. One caveat is that one would need to be familiar with the novels to get the full appreciation od Alter's anayses.
10 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
"Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid" (Jesus Christ from Matthew 5:14, King James Bible). And this superb volume cannot be concealed. Robert Alter in "Pen of Iron: American Prose and The King James Bible" elucidates how the plain and marvelous language of the King James Bible has impacted and influenced American literature and culture.
"Nothing exists in itself" (Ishmael, Moby-Dick).
In this fascinating treatise you will discover how the KJV touched the work of:
- Melville
- Lincoln
- Hemingway
- Faulkner
- Bellow
- Marilynne Robinson and many others.
"But whereunto shall I liken this generation? It is like unto children sitting in the markets, and calling unto their fellows, And saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented" (Matthew 11:16-17, KJV).
The author reveals the significance of examining the literary style of great works and the importance of hermeneutics and background sources in gaining proper understanding of the most splendid literature.
Elijah (Moby Dick) "God pity 'em! Morning to ye, shipmates, morning; the ineffable heavens bless ye; I'm sorry I stopped ye."
Thoroughly readable, wonderfully educational, and a stirring exposition, this page-turner will help you realize the great impact that KJV scripture has had on our culture and literature.
"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal" (Lincoln).
John 1:1 (KJV) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.... Read more ›
"Nothing exists in itself" (Ishmael, Moby-Dick).
In this fascinating treatise you will discover how the KJV touched the work of:
- Melville
- Lincoln
- Hemingway
- Faulkner
- Bellow
- Marilynne Robinson and many others.
"But whereunto shall I liken this generation? It is like unto children sitting in the markets, and calling unto their fellows, And saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented" (Matthew 11:16-17, KJV).
The author reveals the significance of examining the literary style of great works and the importance of hermeneutics and background sources in gaining proper understanding of the most splendid literature.
Elijah (Moby Dick) "God pity 'em! Morning to ye, shipmates, morning; the ineffable heavens bless ye; I'm sorry I stopped ye."
Thoroughly readable, wonderfully educational, and a stirring exposition, this page-turner will help you realize the great impact that KJV scripture has had on our culture and literature.
"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal" (Lincoln).
John 1:1 (KJV) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.... Read more ›
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By Eric Maroney
Format:Hardcover
Robert Alter's Pen of Iron is a serious investigation of the influence of the King James translation of the Bible in American fiction. Alter focuses on Moby Dick, Absalom! Absalom! and Seize the Day. But he also gives considerable attention to other writers and works of fiction, including Hemingway, Cormac McCarthy, and the speeches of Abraham Lincoln.
Alter is a bit of an elitist, and seems to really like no writer or book wholeheartedly. He is pedantic, his favorite word is recondite, which means esoteric or difficult, which could very well characterize his analysis and prose. But Alter should be read. He should be read carefully and slowly. Few can delve into a topic as deeply and richly as he does. And in this book, which is really only a few quick snapshots of how the King James version of the bible enriched American literature, we can see his well-read, well-reasoned mind working at its best.
Although this book my not be the last word on this topic, it provides much food for thought.
Alter is a bit of an elitist, and seems to really like no writer or book wholeheartedly. He is pedantic, his favorite word is recondite, which means esoteric or difficult, which could very well characterize his analysis and prose. But Alter should be read. He should be read carefully and slowly. Few can delve into a topic as deeply and richly as he does. And in this book, which is really only a few quick snapshots of how the King James version of the bible enriched American literature, we can see his well-read, well-reasoned mind working at its best.
Although this book my not be the last word on this topic, it provides much food for thought.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
A provocative and unusual book
Five chapters and a prelude bring forth American voices in a new way; a way that draws out from the diction and rhythm and word choice of that Good Book, the King James Bible, and,... Read more
Published 15 months ago by Sam A. Mawn-Mahlau
5.0 out of 5 stars
For the importance of style in the understanding and the enjoyment of...
"Pen of Iron" is on the ROROTOKO list of cutting-edge intellectual nonfiction. Professor Alter's book interview ran here as the cover feature on May 31, 2010.
Published on May 31, 2010 by ROROTOKO
