Six Memos from the Last Millennium

Six Memos from the Last Millennium
Title Six Memos from the Last Millennium PDF eBook
Author Joseph Skibell
Publisher University of Texas Press
Pages 301
Release 2016-04-19
Genre Religion
ISBN 1477307362

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A storyteller’s take on the Talmud and the timeless wisdom contained within its tales provides “a fresh look at an ancient source” (Kirkus Reviews). A thief-turned-saint, killed by an insult. A rabbi burning down his world in order to save it. A man who lost his sanity while trying to fathom the origin of the universe. A beautiful woman battling her brother’s and her husband’s egos to preserve their family. Stories such as these enliven the pages of the Talmud, the great repository of ancient wisdom that is one of the sacred texts of the Jewish people. Comprised of the Mishnah, the oral law of the Torah, and the Gemara, a multigenerational metacommentary on the Mishnah dating from between 3950 and 4235 (190 and 475 CE), the Talmud presents a formidable challenge to understand without scholarly training and study. But what if one approaches it as a collection of tales with surprising relevance for contemporary readers? In Six Memos from the Last Millennium, Joseph Skibell, critically acclaimed author of A Blessing on the Moon and other novels, reads some of the Talmud’s tales with a storyteller’s insight, concentrating on the lives of the legendary rabbis depicted in its pages to uncover the wisdom they can still impart to our modern age. He unifies strands of stories that are scattered throughout the Talmud into coherent narratives or “memos,” which he then analyzes and interprets from his perspective as a novelist. In Skibell’s imaginative and personal readings, this sacred literature frequently defies our conventional notions of piety. Sometimes wild, rude, and even bawdy, these memos from the last millennium pursue a livable transcendence, a way of fusing the mundane hours of earthly life with a cosmic sense of holiness and wonder.

Six Memos from the Last Millennium

Six Memos from the Last Millennium
Title Six Memos from the Last Millennium PDF eBook
Author Joseph Skibell
Publisher University of Texas Press
Pages 265
Release 2016-04-19
Genre Social Science
ISBN 1477307346

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A thief-turned-saint, killed by an insult. A rabbi burning down his world in order to save it. A man who lost his sanity while trying to fathom the origin of the universe. A beautiful woman battling her brother’s and her husband’s egos to preserve their family. Stories such as these enliven the pages of the Talmud, the great repository of ancient wisdom that is one of the sacred texts of the Jewish people. Comprised of the Mishnah, the oral law of the Torah, and the Gemara, a multigenerational metacommentary on the Mishnah dating from between 3950 and 4235 (190 and 475 CE), the Talmud presents a formidable challenge to understand without scholarly training and study. But what if one approaches it as a collection of tales with surprising relevance for contemporary readers? In Six Memos from the Last Millennium, critically acclaimed novelist Joseph Skibell reads some of the Talmud’s tales with a storyteller’s insight, concentrating on the lives of the legendary rabbis depicted in its pages to uncover the wisdom they can still impart to our modern age. He unifies strands of stories that are scattered throughout the Talmud into coherent narratives or “memos,” which he then analyzes and interprets from his perspective as a novelist. In Skibell’s imaginative and personal readings, this sacred literature frequently defies our conventional notions of piety. Sometimes wild, rude, and even bawdy, these memos from the last millennium pursue a livable transcendence, a way of fusing the mundane hours of earthly life with a cosmic sense of holiness and wonder.

Under the Jaguar Sun

Under the Jaguar Sun
Title Under the Jaguar Sun PDF eBook
Author Italo Calvino
Publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Pages 100
Release 1988
Genre Fiction
ISBN 9780156927949

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One of Italy's greatest and most popular writers offers three witty, fantastical stories, each dominated by one of three senses--taste, hearing, or smell.

Collection of Sand

Collection of Sand
Title Collection of Sand PDF eBook
Author Italo Calvino
Publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Pages 231
Release 2013
Genre Architecture
ISBN 0544146468

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Published for the first time in English, a final collection of essays by the renowned fabulist writer tours the visual world through explorations of subjects ranging from cuneiform and antique maps to Mexican temples and Japanese gardens.

Cosmicomics

Cosmicomics
Title Cosmicomics PDF eBook
Author Italo Calvino
Publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Pages 172
Release 1968
Genre Fiction
ISBN 9780156226004

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Enchanting stories about the evolution of the universe, with characters that are fashioned from mathematical formulae and cellular structures. “Naturally, we were all there, - old Qfwfq said, - where else could we have been? Nobody knew then that there could be space. Or time either: what use did we have for time, packed in there like sardines?” Translated by William Weaver. A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book

Why Read the Classics?

Why Read the Classics?
Title Why Read the Classics? PDF eBook
Author Italo Calvino
Publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Pages 291
Release 2014-12-16
Genre Literary Collections
ISBN 0544146379

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A posthumously published collection of thirty-six essays offering Italo Calvino's invigorating and illuminating analysis of his most treasured literary classics.

The Road to San Giovanni

The Road to San Giovanni
Title The Road to San Giovanni PDF eBook
Author Italo Calvino
Publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Pages 161
Release 2014
Genre Biography & Autobiography
ISBN 0544146522

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Heartfelt, affecting, and wise, the essay collection The Road to San Giovanni offers Italo Calvino's reflections on his own life and work in five elegant memory exercises.