The Rape Of Tamar

by Dan Jacobson

Dan Jacobson retells the age-old, biblical story of the rape of King David's daughter by her brother Amnon. Out of this material he creates a tragic and sardonically humorous novel, wholly modern in spirit and yet true to the time in which it is set. On first publication, The Rape of Tamar was hailed as a masterpiece.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction

Paperback

First published January 1, 1970

About the author

Dan Jacobson (born March 7, 1929 in Johannesburg, South Africa) is a novelist, short story writer, critic and essayist. He has lived in Great Britain for most of his adult life, and for many years held a professorship in the English Department at University College London. He has also spent periods as a visiting writer or a guest-professor at universities in the United States, Australia, and South Africa, and has given lectures and readings in many other countries.

His early novels, including The Trap, his first published novel, focus on South African themes. His later works have been various in kind: they include works of fantasy and fictional treatments of historical episodes, as well as memoirs, critical essays, and travel books. Among the awards and prizes he has received are the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize 1959 (A Long Way from London and Other Stories); Somerset Maugham Award 1964 (Time of Arrival and Other Essays); The Jewish Chronicle Award 1977 (The Confessions of Josef Baisz); the J. R. Ackerley Prize for Autobiography 1986 (Time and Time Again). In the year 2000 he edited and translated from the Dutch Een mond vol Glas by Henk van Woerden, an imaginative re-creation of the circumstances leading to the assassination of a South African president, Dr Hendrik Verwoerd, in the country's House of Assembly.

Dan Jacobson has received an Honorary D. Litt. from the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, and on retirement from his position at University College London was elected a Fellow of the college. Collections of his papers can be found at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, Austen, Texas; Oxford University, England; and, in South Africa, at Witwatersrand University Library, Johannesburg, the National English Literary Museum, Grahamstown, and the Africana Museum, Kimberley.

Reviews

[J.C. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book leapt off the dusty top shelf at me just after I'd heard a sermon on the rape of Tamar from our female church minister, who had focused on Tamar having been told to keep her mouth shut, and the same thing happening to women down the ages. It struck me (the idea, not the book) that the version I had was probably going to have a different focus, as it was written by a man. It did. It is a satire of court and political life. The 'voice' is that of a disenchanted courtier who is ambitious for his own ends and plays on what seem to him the contemptible weaknesses of those around him in order to increase his own political and social standing. He's not likeable, but neither is anyone else in the book. King David has always interested me, and Dan Jacobson does full justice to the complexities of his character. The book is also a psychological study, probably fairly typical of its era (published in 1970). The detail and description are excellent; despite the distance in time and place of the action I really felt at times that I was present at David's court. Why did I give it four stars rather than five? I think because I didn't find it an enlightening or uplifting book in any way. The narrator, Yonadab, matches cunning with intelligence and cynicism with perspicacity; but he doesn't inspire. He’s the guy you really don’t want to get to know. He's near at hand, though - he addresses us directly, right the way through. As an enduring ghost (you might say a condemned spirit) he's kindly elucidating for us a story that's always given rise to curiosity and speculation. Tamar doesn't get much of a look in, but when she does he doesn't spare her from his acid tongue-lashing. His narrative is interspersed with clever, though often sarcastic, snippets of social or psychological observations, such as this:
"It really is very ironic. Ambitious people are those who are determined to secure for themselves exemption from the humiliations and misfortunes that others simply have to endure as best they can. Yet once the ambitious have achieved power and position, they and their families become more, not less, exposed to temptation, to error, to disastrous reversals of fortune. Hence, in the end, all they succeed in turning themselves into are great exemplars of the ordinary, overwhelming instances of the commonplace."
We don't escape either, we 'voyeurs' of three thousand years later. Here he goes . . .
"Must I flatter the notion that you like to have of your difference from the miserable, weightless rabble who crowd the spaceless chambers and corridors of the dead? Not as long, comrades, as you cling to that very belief in your difference from us, which is no more than a manifestation of your particular style of self-importance . . ." And so on. I wasn't sorry to say goodbye to Yonadab; but he leaves us with a flourish, bringing in to take a bow King David and his faithful priest, Abiathar. For me it was like finding an old friend, as I've written about Abiathar. Good to find a decent man at the end of this sordid tale.

[Bunny · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s a Bible story but if it was narrated by Iago in Othello. This character is malevolent, causing problems on purpose, and the funniest little bastard. Nearly every page dropped some quotable line. I had fun the entire time. It’s dark subject matter, there’s no doubt there, but it’s being narrated by a very chatty and charismatic psychopath.

[Leia · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book handles rape in an incredibly callous way, treating the victim as merely a pawn and the men responsible for using her as the heroes of the story. The author clearly does not understand the mindset of a rape victim at all. The language and writing is beautiful, but the treatment of the titular character and situation is insensitive to an offensive degree. If this was meant as an irony, it does not come through in the writing.

[Carolina Morales · Rating 2 out of 5]

Can Jacobson can be a good writer, but hardly can propose a good narrator.

[Robert Wechsler · Rating 4 out of 5]

The telling of this biblical tale (2 Samuel 13) reminds me of David Slavitt’s historical fiction, which is a good thing (I published two of Slavitt’s fictional works). This novel is not as humorous (not the “outrageously funny” of the original edition’s flap copy), nor is Jacobson’s ear for prose quite as good as Slavitt’s (whose is?), but Jacobson’s Macchiavellian narrator is just as cynical in his thoughts, and he shares these thoughts profusely (with Jacobson’s very intelligent help).

I don’t know why Jacobson’s work is not better known in the U.S. It’s nice to see that the House of Stratus has brought some of his works back into print (paperback, not e-books).

[Megan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not terrible, but adds so little and is told in a rambling way. I haven't decided if I like the narrator's fourth-wall tone or not.

[BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely magnificient...