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The Song of Songs: A Biography
An essential history of the greatest love poem ever written
The Song of Songs has been embraced for centuries as the ultimate song of love. But the kind of love readers have found in this ancient poem is strikingly varied. Ilana Pardes invites us to explore the dramatic shift from readings of the Song as a poem on divine love to celebrations of its exuberant account of human love. With a refreshingly nuanced approach, she reveals how allegorical and literal interpretations are inextricably intertwined in the Song's tumultuous life. The body in all its aspects--pleasure and pain, even erotic fervor--is key to many allegorical commentaries. And although the literal, sensual Song thrives in modernity, allegory has not disappeared. New modes of allegory have emerged in modern settings, from the literary and the scholarly to the communal.
Offering rare insights into the story of this remarkable poem, Pardes traces a diverse line of passionate readers. She looks at Jewish and Christian interpreters of late antiquity who were engaged in disputes over the Song's allegorical meaning, at medieval Hebrew poets who introduced it into the opulent world of courtly banquets, and at kabbalists who used it as a springboard to the celestial spheres. She shows how feminist critics have marveled at the Song's egalitarian representation of courtship, and how it became a song of America for Walt Whitman, Herman Melville, and Toni Morrison. Throughout these explorations of the Song's reception, Pardes highlights the unparalleled beauty of its audacious language of love.
The Song of Songs has been embraced for centuries as the ultimate song of love. But the kind of love readers have found in this ancient poem is strikingly varied. Ilana Pardes invites us to explore the dramatic shift from readings of the Song as a poem on divine love to celebrations of its exuberant account of human love. With a refreshingly nuanced approach, she reveals how allegorical and literal interpretations are inextricably intertwined in the Song's tumultuous life. The body in all its aspects--pleasure and pain, even erotic fervor--is key to many allegorical commentaries. And although the literal, sensual Song thrives in modernity, allegory has not disappeared. New modes of allegory have emerged in modern settings, from the literary and the scholarly to the communal.
Offering rare insights into the story of this remarkable poem, Pardes traces a diverse line of passionate readers. She looks at Jewish and Christian interpreters of late antiquity who were engaged in disputes over the Song's allegorical meaning, at medieval Hebrew poets who introduced it into the opulent world of courtly banquets, and at kabbalists who used it as a springboard to the celestial spheres. She shows how feminist critics have marveled at the Song's egalitarian representation of courtship, and how it became a song of America for Walt Whitman, Herman Melville, and Toni Morrison. Throughout these explorations of the Song's reception, Pardes highlights the unparalleled beauty of its audacious language of love.
296 pages, Hardcover
Published August 13, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 7, 2019
Theologian Christopher West cheekily described 'The Song of Songs' as "the centerfold of the Bible," but Dr. Ilana Pardes's fascinating history of the text paints a completely different portrait. To illustrate this, the word "pornography" does not appear once in her book, nor should it. 'The Song of Songs' is a celebration of the most basic human emotion that the Christian world too often puts itself in open war against: love.
As Dr. Pardes shows, 'The Song of Songs' once stood head and shoulders above its peers. Rabbi Akiva (c. 50–135 CE) famously declared "the whole world is not worth the day on which the Song of Songs was given," adding "had the Torah not been given, the world could have been conducted by the Song of Songs." In hindsight, it is a tragedy the latter did not come to be. 'The Song of Songs' stands in such sharp contrast to the rape and murder that typifies the Old Testament that 'The Song of Songs: A Biography' makes you lament how the Songs was not the ONLY book in the Bible. Had the Abrahamic religions followed 'The Song of Songs' more closely than the hateful preaching of Deuteronomy or Leviticus, then perhaps we would be living in a more loving, peaceful world resembling the works of Whitman than the sexless, apocalyptic hate-speech evident in contemporary white evangelicalism. Such were my thoughts after reading 'The Song of Songs: A Biography,' particularly after finishing Pardes's brilliant chapter on the Song's influence on Walt Whitman, Herman Melville, and Toni Morrison.
'The Song of Songs: A Biography' was my second venture into Princeton's "Lives of Great Religious Books" series, and after being delighted once again, I cannot recommend this book or its collection with higher praise. Please read this book and subscribe to its series. I plan on reading every book in this collection after finishing 'The Song of Songs: A Biography,' and I hope you do as well. 5 stars.
As Dr. Pardes shows, 'The Song of Songs' once stood head and shoulders above its peers. Rabbi Akiva (c. 50–135 CE) famously declared "the whole world is not worth the day on which the Song of Songs was given," adding "had the Torah not been given, the world could have been conducted by the Song of Songs." In hindsight, it is a tragedy the latter did not come to be. 'The Song of Songs' stands in such sharp contrast to the rape and murder that typifies the Old Testament that 'The Song of Songs: A Biography' makes you lament how the Songs was not the ONLY book in the Bible. Had the Abrahamic religions followed 'The Song of Songs' more closely than the hateful preaching of Deuteronomy or Leviticus, then perhaps we would be living in a more loving, peaceful world resembling the works of Whitman than the sexless, apocalyptic hate-speech evident in contemporary white evangelicalism. Such were my thoughts after reading 'The Song of Songs: A Biography,' particularly after finishing Pardes's brilliant chapter on the Song's influence on Walt Whitman, Herman Melville, and Toni Morrison.
'The Song of Songs: A Biography' was my second venture into Princeton's "Lives of Great Religious Books" series, and after being delighted once again, I cannot recommend this book or its collection with higher praise. Please read this book and subscribe to its series. I plan on reading every book in this collection after finishing 'The Song of Songs: A Biography,' and I hope you do as well. 5 stars.
August 13, 2019
Another fantastic addition to the Lives of Great Religious Books series. Traces the history of interpretation from ancient times to the present, as advertised.
December 16, 2022
Another helpful entry into a great series. I go back to Larrimores entry on The Book of Job often and I’m sure to do the same with this one. It’s a tough balancing act to offer enough information on each interpreter of the Song and still keep the word limit but Pardes does it. She has directed me to many medieval texts in particular that are worthy of exploration but does a nice job with modern readers as well.
abandoned
August 10, 2023much too scholarly for me
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews