Le Livre des Questions

by Edmond Jabès

IV. Yaël;
V. Elya;
VI. Aely;
VII. • (El, ou le dernier livre)

The Book of Questions, of which volumes IV, V, VI are together published here, is a meditative narrative of Jewish Experience, and, more generally, man's relation to the world. In these volumes the word is personified in the woman Yael, silence in her still-born child Elya. Even though words imply ambiguity and lies, they are the home of the exile. A book becomes the Book, fragments of the law that are in some way unified, where past and present, the visionary, and the common place, encounter each other. For Jabes every word is a question in the book of being. Man defines himself in the world against all that threatens his existence- death, the infinite, silence, that is, God, his primal opponent. How can one speak what cannot be spoken?

Genres: Poetry, Religion, France, Literature, Philosophy, Theology, Fiction

602 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1963

About the author

Edmond Jabes was a major voice in French poetry in the latter half of this century. An Egyptian Jew, he was haunted by the question of place and the loss of place in relation to writing, and he was one of the most significant thinkers of what one might call poetical alienation. He focused on the space of the book, seeing it as the true space in which exile and the promised land meet in poetry and in question. (This is summarized from the reader's description in A New History of French Literature, ed. Denis Hollier.) Very many of Jabes's books of prose and poetry have been translated into English, including The Book of Dialogue ( Wesleyan, 1987) and The Book of Margins (Chicago, 1993), both translated by Rosmarie Waldrop.

Reviews

[S̶e̶a̶n̶ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have for a long time been on good terms with words. But this does not mean that they always show a liking for me.

[Carly Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very beautifully constructed. Lots of philosophy, poetry, and visual creativity. Unfortunately, I picked this one up not knowing it was "part II". So . . . good read as a stand alone.

[Myhte]

Time is heavy.
We weighed the same,
wished for the same heights.

I rise but way up there is my soul trying to rise higher still.
Behind the sun, a yet lonelier sky.

[Jonah T · Rating 4 out of 5]

good read for jews. sometimes hard to get through because of how densely poetic it is, i.e. always more metaphor than narrative.

[javor · Rating 5 out of 5]

same thoughts as vol. 1. loved the evolving figures throughout. the critique of the law (i.e. in contradistinction to talmudic 'law') felt very benjaminian/agambenian viz. deactivation, new weak use for the law, etc. moses as a figure of subversion of the law; the book as self-destructive; law containing its own subversion; the silence of hashem in the face of abram; the wound of writing in the face of the shoah. simply so many cool ideas that resonated a lot with me, especially the displacement from static identity and the permanent exile of the jewish figure.

[Melanie Alves · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aqui, a palavra é ferida, sangue e interrogação ininterrupta. Cheio de aforismos, o livro procura reconstruir o mundo a partir de estilhaços (a morte, a perda, o sagrado, o exílio judaico e o trauma do Holocausto).