Lion's Honey: The Myth of Samson

by David Grossman, Stuart Schoffman (Translator)

Israel's most lauded contemporary writer retells the myth of Samson, one of the most tempestuous, charismatic, and colorful characters in the Hebrew Bible. There are few other Bible stories with so much drama and action, narrative fireworks and raw emotion, as we find in the tale of the battle with the lion; the three hundred burning foxes; the women he bedded and the one woman that he loved; his betrayal by all the women in his life, from his mother to Delilah; and, in the end, his murderous suicide, when he brought the house down on himself and three thousand Philistines.

"Yet, beyond the wild impulsiveness, the chaos, the din, we can make out a life story that is, at bottom, the tortured journey of a single, lonely and turbulent soul who never found, anywhere, a true home in the world, whose very body was a harsh place of exile. For me, this discovery, this recognition, is the point at which the myth — for all its grand images, its larger-than-life adventures — slips silently into the day-to-day existence of each of us, into our most private moments, our buried secrets." — from David Grossman's introduction to Lion's Honey.

Genres: Mythology, Fiction, Religion, Israel, Fantasy, Literature, Jewish

176 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

From ithl.org:

Leading Israeli novelist David Grossman (b. 1954, Jerusalem) studied philosophy and drama at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and later worked as an editor and broadcaster at Israel Radio. Grossman has written seven novels, a play, a number of short stories and novellas, and a number of books for children and youth. He has also published several books of non-fiction, including interviews with Palestinians and Israeli Arabs. Among Grossman`s many literary awards: the Valumbrosa Prize (Italy), the Eliette von Karajan Prize (Austria), the Nelly Sachs Prize (1991), the Premio Grinzane and the Premio Mondelo for The Zig-Zag Kid (Italy, 1996), the Vittorio de Sica Prize (Italy), the Juliet Club Prize, the Marsh Award for Children`s Literature in Translation (UK, 1998), the Buxtehude Bulle (Germany, 2001), the Sapir Prize for Someone to Run With (2001), the Bialik Prize (2004), the Koret Jewish Book Award (USA, 2006), the Premio per la Pace e l`Azione Umanitaria 2006 (City of Rome/Italy), Onorificenza della Stella Solidarita Italiana 2007, Premio Ischia - International Award for Journalism 2007, the Geschwister Scholl Prize (Germany), the Emet Prize (Israel, 2007)and the Albatross Prize (Germany, 2009). He has also been awarded the Chevalier de l`Ordre des Arts et Belles Lettres (France, 1998) and an Honorary Doctorate by Florence University (2008). In 2007, his novels The Book of Internal Grammar and See Under: Love were named among the ten most important books since the creation of the State of Israel. His books have been translated into over 25 languages.

See also other authors with similar names.

Reviews

[Майя Ставитская · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the reconstruction of the biblical myth of Samson by David Grossman, from the moment when the angel of the Lord announced to the mother about the imminent birth of a baby who would begin to save the children of Israel from the Philistines, to the death of the hero, this story appears logical, dramatic and poetic. For Grossman, painful tenderness for his mother is a cross-cutting theme. It is not surprising that here, too, the image of a woman who "was infertile, did not give birth" is given such close attention. Clever, unlike the slow-witted husband, light-footed, compassionate, understanding everything, powerless to change anything.

So it will be with everything in this little book, every act of Samson, every motive of his will be analyzed and will receive an exhaustive explanation, and the reader will see a man endowed with superpowers and a special mission, but also separated from others, primarily from his people, for which he was called by divine permission.

Grossman is a master of deep psychological prose, in his interpretation a superhero, always partly perceived as schematic and primitive, acquires complexity and depth.

Супергерой
И из сильного вышло сладкое.
Это была очередная встреча с библейским Самсоном - его загадку гостям про "из ядущего вышло ядомое..." Джек загадает Блейну Моно (кингоманы поймут, остальным долго объяснять). Предыдущая - когда приятель на вопрос, что ему больше всего запомнилось из поездки в Питер, ответил с претензией на остроумие: "Samsung, разрывающий пасть льва в Петергофе".

А самая первая - у Дюма, он страсть как любил отсылать к библейским мифам, предполагалось, что его читатели знакомы с этой мифологией с младых ногтей, но мы-то, советские дети, нет. Вот и пришлось нырять в комментарии, чтобы выяснить, что был такой библейский персонаж, чья сила в волосах, однажды он ослиной челюстью перебил кучу врагов, но в другой раз филистимянка Далила срезала его волосы, и он стал бессилен.

Согласитесь, немало для одного мифического героя. То есть, про Сизифа все вспомнят камень на гору, про Эдипа. что убил отца и женился на матери, про Прометея, что принес людям огонь и обучил ремеслам, за что Зевс приковал его к скале и орел всякий день клевал печень. А тут столько всего: и длинные волосы, и предательство возлюбленной, и ослиная челюсть, и разодранная пасть льва, и смутно, на периферии сознания, что был первым камикадзе. Еще эта загадка дурацкая совершенно, поди угадай, что имеется в виду череп льва (того самого), который напал на молодого Самсона в горах, когда тот шел свататься. Юноша убил его голыми руками, а спустя год шел той же местностью, увидел, что в львином черепе пчелы устроили улей, набрал полные горсти меду, ел по дороге домой и родителей угостил.

Ядущее (едящее и сильное, готовое слопать тебя) это лев, ядомое и сладкое - мед, угадать невозможно по определению, тем не менее, Самсон загадал ее на свадьбе, поставив на кон тридцать синдонов (такая плиссированная юбочка, как у египетских фараонов) и тридцать перемен одежды. А когда гости подкупили молодую жену, чтобы вызнала точный ответ, и озвучили ему - возмутился таким вероломством, поубивал тридцать человек, а сорванные с трупов одежды швырнул гостям - нате! Как-то не очень, не находите?

В реконструкции библейского мифа о Самсоне от Давида Гроссмана от момента, когда ангел господень возгласил матери о скором рождении младенца, который начнет спасать сынов Израилевых от филистимлян, до смерти героя ,эта история предстает логичной, драматичной и поэтичной. Для Гроссмана болезненная нежность к матери сквозная тема. Неудивительно, что и здесь образу женщины, которая "была неплодна, не рождала" уделено такое пристальное внимание. Умница, в отличие от тугодума-мужа, легконогая, сострадательная, все понимающая, бессильная что-либо изменить.

Так будет со всем в этой небольшой книге, всякий поступок Самсона, каждый его мотив будет проанализирован и получит исчерпывающее объяснение, а перед читателем предстанет человек, наделенный сверхсилой и особой миссией, но ею же и отделенный от других, в первую очередь от своего народа, на подвиг ради которого он призван божественным соизволением.

Давид Гроссман мастер глубокой психологической прозы, в его интерпретации супергерой, всегда отчасти воспринимаемый, как схематичный и примитивный, обретает сложность и глубину. А вот про мед есть большие сомнения. Энтомологи убеждены, что из черепа вылетели навстречу Самсону не пчелы, а мухи-журчалки (музыкантики, которых мы в детстве ловили, подносили к уху, а потом отпускали). Очень похожие на пчел, в отличие от брезгливых последних, могли угнездиться в черепе. Хотя меда не дают. А впрочем, божественное вмешательство могло и из львиного черепа улей сделать.

[MihaElla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some good time ago, even 7 days seems now like years ago, I have read this essay on the biblical figure of Samson. I find it very interesting and instructive because it throws much light on the character and personality of Biblical Samson from a psychological perspective, and especially from real mother-father relations view.
In immemorial times, by this I mean in my childhood, I have read the tale as told in the Bible. I was left with the message that it’s good thing not to cut your hair because in the uncut hair hides a lot of power (or all the power). Personally, I was not so lucky, I mean my mother kept chopping my hair like I was sent to the military camp yearly.
The story of Samson is of special interest, and to me it didn’t matter so much if it is an historical figure or just a myth, but still a myth that entered history, or something like that. I like the story like a fairy tale.
I even counted 12 labors done by Samson, a same number like the jobs done by Heracles (or Hercules):
1. kills a lion with his hands, that is the lion is slain without the use of any weapon. Impressive, isn’t it?
2. During his marriage proposes a riddle, a very difficult riddle if you see below in spoiler, and incidentally slays 30 Philistines.
3. He catches 300 foxes and chases them with firebrands through the fields of the Philistines.
4. The Philistines burn his wife and his father-in-law's whole family which induces him to make great slaughter among them, whereupon he flees into the mountains and hides in the cleft of a cliff.
5. is bound by the men of Judah and delivered to the Philistines who take him to Lehi, but "the ropes on his arms became like flax that has caught fire."
6. picks up the jawbone of an ass and kills multitudes of his enemies.
7. Being overcome with thirst he prays for water and a spring breaks forth from the ass's jawbone.
8. When visiting a woman at Gaza, he escapes the ambush of the Philistines by rising at midnight and carrying with him the two doors of the city gate, which he plants upon the hill which is in front of Hebron.
9. becomes entangled with the treacherous Delilah, who bound him with seven new bowstrings, but when the Philistines came upon him "he snapped the bow strings as a strand of tow snaps at the breath of fire."
10. Thereupon Delilah bound him with seven new ropes, but he "snapped the ropes off from his arms like thread."
11. Delilah weaves the seven braids of his hair into the web of her loom, but he pulled up the loom with the web and escaped the third time.
12. Finally Samson, due to experiencing growing tiredness like a sort of existential dilemma, he felt betrayed by his mother and father, so he is treated mostly like a human, betrays the secret of his strength, and Delilah had the seven braids of his hair shaved; he is taken prisoner and blinded, and turned into a slave. When his hair had grown again his strength returned and enabled him to break down the two pillars of the Dagon temple by which deed he buried himself with multitudes of his enemies under the ruins of the edifice.

Riddle (is not a question, but a statement, a positive proposition)
"Out of the eater comes something to eat;
And out of the strong one comes something sweet."

And the Answer (is stated in the form of a question):
"What is sweeter than honey, and
What is more strong than a lion?"

[Dhanaraj Rajan · Rating 4 out of 5]

May be three and half stars.

I expected a fictionalized retelling of the biblical character, Samson. But it is more of an exegetical work. It is a Jewish exegetical work.

That does not mean it is too academic and dull. It is interesting and very thought provoking. It is critical and connects the relevance to present day events. So I liked it. But I would have been happier had Grossman presented it in a novel-form.

Otherwise, Grossman's reflections on Samson are very revealing. The core theme is that Samson from the beginning (from the moment of his conception) was kept apart for a divine mission. The immediate bond between a mother and a son is violated by God. This breech haunts the mind of Samson all through his life. His struggle is between longing to be a normal man and fulfilling the already stipulated God's plan. On one hand everyone sees him as a different person (God's Nazirite) and on the other hand he wants to be seen as a normal human being. He is caught between two pulling ends. This tension is brought out wonderfully by Grossman through wonderful analysis of many texts.

Whatever it is, it is an interesting book.

[Gabriela Pistol · Rating 4 out of 5]

Samson al lui Grossman este un (anti?)erou romantic 100%: un bătăuș cu suflet de poet, o armă în mâna lui Yahve, lipsit, astfel, de liber arbitru dinainte de a se naște și până la moarte, un înstrăinat, un însingurat care caută să fie cunoscut și acceptat și care chiar își face curaj - doar o dată în viață - să își dezvăluie toată inima.

Și de aici Grossman speculează (sclipitor) pe tărâmul psihanalizei și lingvisticii, dar și al politicii. Căci ce e Samson, ucigașul filistenilor (asupritorii de atunci), dar care alege, totuși, să trăiască printre acești străini și dușmani, dacă nu sinecdoca pentru poporul evreu contemporan?

Grossman era și pănă acum unul dintre romancierii mei preferați (mai ales cu Un cal intră într-un bar și Până la capătul pământului); azi intră - previzibil, recunosc- și în topul eseiștilor.

[Mihaela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mierea leului - nu e un simplu eseu literar sau o oarecare interpretare modernă a unei povești biblice, ci este o călătorie fenomenală prin mintea fiecăruia. Cel puțin, la mine așa a fost.
Și a venit, într-un fel, la fix, după Trilogia lui Isus, un regal marca Coetzee, unde eroul (ficțional) este David, un copil excepțional, de care mi-a adus acum aminte Samson.

Câtă măiestrie dovedește David Grossman în acest eseu absolut superb! Am vibrat la fiecare pagină, admirând scriitura și felul în care analizează povestea lui Samson, scormonind după toate detaliile iluminatoare, căutând toate indiciile psihologice și am trăit drama lui Samson, însingurarea lui înfiorătoare, l-am înțeles până în adâncuri, datorită acestui complex scriitor. Pentru că Grossman e genial: percepe fiecare clipă importantă din viața lui Samson, intrând în pielea lui și lucrul acesta îl face viu și palpabil, sub ochii tăi crește un erou excepțional.
Ce erou straniu este Samson! Cu o putere fizică ieșită din comun, dar foarte vulnerabil, curajos până la cer, dar având mare nevoie de încurajările și iubirea părinților, cu totul special, dar atât de singur și atât de dornic de a avea încredere totală în cineva. Și atât de obsedat de dăruire, încât merge spre autodistrugere. Parcă toate contradicțiile s-au adunat în acest bărbat, plin de calități totodată, un tip legendar și miraculos. El își dorește compania celorlalți, dar nu se poate adapta la ei. Sfârșitul lui Samson îl știți, dar îl puteți redescoperi și retrăi, citind Mierea leului.

"Putem extrapola pentru a întreba de ce, atât de des, oamenii se autosubminează chiar în domeniile în care au nevoie de cea mai mare salvare".

Pe David Grossman voi continua să-l citesc, îmi aduce multă bucurie.

[Roger Brunyate · Rating 5 out of 5]

 
A Miniature Masterpiece

I have recently become interested in the Myths series published by the Canongate Press: stories from various cultures retold by distinguished contemporary novelists in compact form. I have enjoyed Margaret Atwood's feminist take on the Odyssey in The Penelopiad, and A. S. Byatt's colorful retelling of Icelandic saga in Ragnarok. But Lion's Honey, by Israeli novelist David Grossman (author of the recent To the End of the Land ) is by far the best of the three. A brilliant retelling and exegesis of the story of Samson, it is part simple narrative, part Talmudic, part Freudian, part contemporary political commentary, and all highly personal. In 150 small-format pages, it is a miniature masterpiece.

Other reviewers have suggested that this is as much textual analysis as narrative. And so it may be, but it works as storytelling too. It is a long time since I have read the book of Judges, and I had forgotten how many brilliantly cinematic incidents the story of Samson contained, from killing a lion with his bare hands and using 300 foxes as incendiary devices, to his seduction by Delilah and climactic destruction of the Philistine temple. Grossman kept me on the edge of my seat, as though I were reading a screenplay. Indeed, he views Samson as an artist on the grand scale; there is a style to his actions, the "artistic need to draw on something private and singular in everything he does."

So when Grossman stops and says, in effect, “Wait a minute; there may be another way of looking at this,” I never felt frustrated. For each diversion from the through line opens the story out into other dimensions, some of which are richer than the original myth and explain why it retains such a powerful hold on the imagination. Freud has a field day; we see

…Samson's passion to tie and be tied, and also to be ensnared, and we may read the serpentine jumble of ropes—this tangled web—and wonder, how many ropes does a man need to replace one umbilical cord that was never properly spun?

Time after time, Grossman takes a phrase in the Hebrew and dissects it, calling upon more than two millennia of rabbinical commentary, not as an academic exercise but a window into the Jewish mind, with an immense resonance that I trust entirely. And when Grossman calls Samson "the first suicide-killer," he is not attempting some smart updating but repeatedly bringing the story to bear on the Israel he knows: its history and beauty, but also its contemporary politics, power fetish, and security paranoia—all this from a man who lost a son in service with the Israeli armed forces.

There is one other resonance in the book that came over very strongly to one who was raised in a different tradition. Grossman never once mentions Jesus, but it is extraordinary how many parallels there are between the two stories, reminding me that Jesus was a Jewish prophet long before he was adopted as the Christian savior. Samson too had a mysterious birth announced by an angel. He too made his first public display of power at a wedding feast. He too loved to talk in poetic riddles. He too seemed almost to court betrayal and capture, even if it would result in his death. There is the major difference, of course, that Jesus was a man of peace and Samson one of war—but a number of recent retellings of the gospel story, such as Naomi Alderman's brilliant The Liars' Gospel, emphasize the likelihood that it was precisely in the context of armed rebellion that Jesus would have been seen by many of his early followers.

All in all, a richly dimensioned, thought-provoking, and utterly readable book.

[Teresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Esperava ler o mito de Sansão romanceado, mas este trabalho assemelha-se a um ensaio em que David Grossman faz a sua interpretação do texto bíblico.
Aborreceu-me um pouquito.

[Daniel Chaikin · Rating 4 out of 5]

13. Lion's Honey: The Myth of Samson (The Myths) by David Grossman
translation from Hebrew by Stuart Schoffman in 2006
published: 2005
format: 184 page paperback, including the KJV version of Samson - The Book of Judges 13-16
acquired: 2012 from amazon
read: Feb 26 - Mar 1
rating: 4

Samson is an oddball part of the Bible, with parallels going east to Gilgamesh and west to Hercules. Gilgamesh and Hercules both kill a lion and wear a lion skin as in identifier; Samson kills a lion, then later finds a honey-rich beehive inside the carcass leading to a riddle and much fun and slaughter in this sugar-free world. Samson also ties in to the later myth of bugonia, "a ritual based on the belief that bees were spontaneously (equivocally) generated from a cow's carcass", a topic Virgil will write about and in the process become the main source of the story of Orpheus and Eurydice. But I'm off topic now. There is only a tiny amount of this stuff in Grossman's book.

Grossman gets credit for writing what should be a really boring book and making it quite readable and compelling. He goes step by step through the story of Samson, with a commentary of his ideas at each step. It's repetitive and yet still readable. I love this kind of info, and yet hate reading this stuff, and yet I never felt tormented here. It's pleasant with some narrative drive.

Grossman's Samson is misunderstood, alone, the only one in his time with the spirit of the Lord inside him, setting him firmly apart. His understanding questionable, and his expression minimal, his self-destructiveness the only expression we are able to read off. He is also a bit of an artist, spouting poetic lines and riddles. And having one of the most spectacular suicides in literature anywhere.

I like Grossman's take, even when I felt it was incomplete. For example, he goes into detail on what Samson's mother tells and doesn't tell her husband. The angel of the Lord came on to her - sexual double-meaning working in both English and Hebrew. So, she is maybe a bit compromised by his message of this possibly partially divine son. She gives her husband the entire angel's message, except for two parts - she doesn't tell her husband this unborn son will smite Philistines and she doesn't tell him that this son's weakness is his hair. Grossman goes on and on, and yet doesn't mention once that it's possible she might have been protecting her son from a father who might be exposed to or partial to Philistines. It would seem to be the obvious explanation. They were Danites and therefore in close associated, geographically, with the more powerful Philistines. But it doesn't interest Grossman.

Anyway, that's probably more than you wanted to know. I only recommend this book to those who really want to know about Samson. I wanted to know about Grossman, and I don't feel this book gave me all that much insight into this contemporary Israeli author.

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really want to meet Grossman because his prose is heart breaking wonderful.

Grossman looks at the story of Samson and gives the story a very close reading. I doubt anyone who reads this book will look at the story of Samson the same way. Additionally, Grossman makes connections to current events, though not in a heavy handed way.

Grossman's look at Samson presents a rather interesting idea of a man who is chosen by who may lack free will. He also takes about dated readings of the story. (For instance, back in the olden days, scholar thought that Deliah moved away from Samson at a critical point in their physical exercise together, and that's why he was wearied until death).

While funny at points, the book is moving. It is a short and quick read. If you have the read the Bible or are interested in religion (or myth), you should read this lovely little book.

[Leah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not at all what I expected. I was going into this, expecting a fictional retelling of the myth of Samson, since the other books in the series were just that. However, this was essentially an in-depth analysis of the plot and characters, which is not bad by any means. I am just not attached to the myth in question and had no interest in an analysis, and I started to skim-read in some sections. Nonetheless, some parts were definitely interesting, especially the points that were made in the beginning and at the end of the book. I also very much appreciated the chapters right at the start, because I have never read the biblical story prior to Grossman's critical commentary on it. All in all, I am still glad I picked this up.

[Oriente · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ez valami nagyon más volt, mint amit vártam.
Jelen kötettel befejeztem az ún. Mítosz-sorozat magyarul megjelent tételeit, de mintha Grossman egészen másként értelmezte volna a sorozat koncepcióját. Ellentétben szerzőtársaival, nem egy kortárs regényben dolgozta fel Sámson bibliai mítoszát, hanem komplett, részletekbe menő elemzésnek vetette alá az eredeti szöveget. Jegyzetekkel ellátott fejtegetéseiben mondatról mondatra szedi darabokra a Bírák könyve 13-16. fejezeteit, van itten intertextualitás, egyéni és kollektív pszichológiai kórkép, belső diskurzus és jelképrendszer, párhuzamosságok és utóélet - ami nem mondom, hogy érdektelen, de engem pillanatnyilag nem igazán érdekelt. Regényt vártam, modernt, izgalmas átértelmezést, aktualizálást, nem egy önismétlésekkel terhelt, kissé ömlengő szövegmagyarázatot.
A kötet a maga módján azért értékes, de beemelése ebbe a szériába inkább egy tévedés.

[Pauline · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Important, but not quite loved." -Thoughts on Lion's Honey by David Grossman (translated from Hebrew by Scott Schoffman)

I am no stranger to the story of Samson; I studied in a private, religious school for 13 years, during which I was - for lack of a better, or nicer, word - force-fed the Bible and its stories*. Samson's feats of strength (the only one I was ever able to remember was the one at the end, really - collapsing the two pillars and killing three thousand Philistines in one blow) and his treacherous, short-lived romance with Delilah ("you are my sweetest downfall," so sings Regina Spektor) made a mark on me early on, if only because a) every child remembers stories of superhuman feats, b) Samson and Delilah was my first fatalist love story - I was yet to be introduced to Romeo and Juliet, and c) I was, at a very young age, wondering why Samson had to die together with the Philistines - sure, he had his eyes gouged out and was weak from his recent haircut, but if God really loved Samson, shouldn't He have saved him? Enveloped Samson in a force field while the arena tumbled down around him, perhaps?

I didn't find the answer to that question in Lion's Honey, David Grossman's interpretation (or maybe it's called an analysis?) of the story of Samson (the Book of Judges, chapter 13-16, in case you want to brush up on biblical history). However, Grossman did shed quite the new light on Samson that made me go "why didn't I think of that?" and "oh my ... goodness, he's right!": that Samson was - and these are my words, not Grossman's - a misunderstood freak who never realized that he was exploited (nationalised was Grossman's term) by God, and that his womanizing (which really is too big a word in his case; does being with three women - not even simultaneously, no - count as womanizing? Then again it was the biblical times) was in truth a need for intimate connection which he'd lacked his entire life, beginning with his miraculous conception (they say his mother was barren, but hey, the patriarch should be under suspicion for infertility, too), ending with his first love Delilah's treachery (the three times she tried to harm him should have been enough of a warning - but, alas, the poor guy was in love) and ultimately leading to his demise under the two pillars with the Philistines (which in any case looked like a suicide but since it's in the Bible, it counts as a sacrifice).

Grossman wasn't as blunt, though.

The exploration of Samson's life is so detailed, so intricate, that Grossman even had footnotes; his discussion alone of how an angel informed Samson's mother of her impending divine pregnancy ate up the first 30 pages of the book. That Samson was a misunderstood person "who has been planted in the world and operated as a lethal weapon of divine will," at the same time clueless as to his purpose in life - "He goes through life like a walking enigma, marvelling over his secret, his riddle." - and his greatest struggle being pre-destined for such greatness as God's instrument (or puppet, depending on how one views it), a destiny which has made him different, an outcast, when all he ever wanted was to fit in. His story is littered with allusions to his great disconnect - with his parents, his people, even to himself; Samson was larger than life, yet despite his great strength, he was emotionally inadequate for the job. "How astonishing and poignant, this gulf between enormous physical strength and an immature, childlike soul."

Grossman's interpretation of the story of Samson is so far, far removed from what I've grown up with; Scott Schoffman's translation is delicious in its simplicity - what could have turned out to be a boring, seemingly academic book became vivid in giving a new (albeit quite the eccentric) definition of one of the Bible's greatest heroes. I was honestly expecting a work of fiction when I picked up the book, but I'm glad I was wrong.

Samson's story, though full of great feats of strength, ended sadly with his death; Lion's Honey, however, has made me even more melancholic, sadder for a man whose greatest wish was "that one person love him simply, wholly, naturally, not because of his miraculous quality, but in spite of it."

I hope he didn't die in vain.

PS. A thought, in retrospect: everyone's trying to be different, "but maybe it is not a weakness, an illness, to be like everyone else."

* I have nothing against the Bible, though. In fact, my copy is quite the confidante (I hide small notes and the occasional rainy-day bill between its pages) and great giver of advice (the occasional Bible-dipping, as introduced by Augusten Burroughs' Running with Scissors ). I'm not trying to be blasphemous, I swear.

Originally posted here.

[Jackie Law · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Canongate Myth Series is promoted as a series of short novels in which ancient myths from myriad cultures are reimagined and rewritten by contemporary authors. Its focus is intended to be international with writers from a variety of countries invited to participate. Lion’s Honey is the contribution from Man Booker International Prize winner David Grossman. Translated by Stuart Schoffman it promises ‘a provocative new take’ on the biblical story of Samson.

Unfortunately this is not a retelling of a myth but rather a study of the biblical text that strongly implies it is being read as a fact based historical account. There is much cross referencing with writing from the Torah and from Jewish academics. The author picks his way through the tale seeking proof of desired notions rather than as one aiming to enlighten with carefully detached reasoning.

The book opens with a reprinting of the story of Samson from The Authorised King James version of the bible: The Book of Judges, chapters 13-16. This makes for rather dry reading. A foreword then explains that ‘Samson the hero’ is what every Jewish child learns to call the protagonist, despite the fact he was a muscle bound murderer prone to lust and whoring who ended his life as perhaps the first recorded suicide killer. Grossman portrays him as an artist yearning for love. I struggled to agree with the arguments presented for this portrayal.

Key incidents in the story are dissected and debated. Where the author claims a sensuous side I saw attention seeking and licentiousness. Where he tries to depict women letting Samson down I observed how badly he treated them. Samson came across as petulant and bullying; a much desired child, perhaps over indulged by his parents, who subsequently used his immense strength to wreak destruction when he did not get his own way.

As an example, Samson decides he will marry a Philistine he is attracted to, not one of his own people. Despite their misgivings his parents agree to this plan. At the wedding Samson, in a show of one-upmanship, sets his guests an impossible riddle that results in bad feeling and a deadly threat made against his new in-laws. Naturally this upsets the bride. When she asks her husband for the solution to the riddle he berates her, stating he has not even told his parents. Thus her secondary importance in his life is made clear before the wedding celebrations are even complete. That she subsequently acts to save her family is hardly a surprise. Following this Samson shows how vicious he can be, killing strangers and burning the community’s newly harvested crops. The author writes of the hero’s yearning for love. Such barbarism is hardly conducive to a loving marital relationship.

Continuing on the theme of love and a desire for intimacy, questions are posed about why Samson visits a whore. This seemed naive – surely such reasons are obvious. The author sees confusion and emotional need in Samson’s interest in the Philistines. I saw natural curiosity in the world outside a narrow culture. That Samson kept encountering rejections speaks to me of his behaviour around others which, when detailed, is rarely worthy of esteem.

Of course, instead of trying to make sense of an historical figure one could read the story of Samson as a myth and allow that the more extreme events detailed are included to add colour and enhance the telling of the tale. Where this treatise falls short is the apparent seriousness with which the biblical text is being read and certain religious interpretations accepted.

Lion’s Honey does not sit easily within a series of evocative story retelling. Even as a study I found it unconvincing.

[Saturn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Questo libro della Canongate Myth Series, non è una reinterpretazione del mito di Sansone ma piuttosto un'accurata analisi del celebre personaggio biblico. David Grossman esplora quasi frase per frase il significato della vita di Sansone: nato per liberare il popolo israelita grazie alla sua forza sovrumana, sembra invece condannato a essere tradito da chi più ama. Il suo destino lo porta allo scontro, il suo amore per le donne filistee è il mezzo utilizzato da Dio il quale cercava d'avere un giusto motivo di contesa coi filistei. Ciò che traspare da questo mito è l'incredibile senso di solitudine e disperazione che accompagnano la vita di Sansone in ogni sua impresa. La sua missione di vendetta, di rivalsa sugli oppressori del suo popolo lo portano lontano da ogni possibile affetto: temuto, incompreso, tradito - l'eroe simbolo della cultura israelita è nel profondo un uomo fragile e tormentato, esasperato al punto di voler morire. Diventato simbolo di forza liberatoria e di vendetta, cosa ci racconta Sansone dell'Israele di oggi ce lo spiega David Grossman in alcuni brevi excursus nel corso della lettura. Peccato che questo aspetto è molto poco approfondito di quanto, forse, il senso di questa serie sui miti richiederebbe.

[Louis · Rating 3 out of 5]

What I thought was a retelling of the biblical tale is in fact an exploration.
Grossman reads into the many translations, metaphors, and deeper imagery of the tale of Samson.
The long-haired brute is instead framed in this short exploration as a man suffering with the responsibility and isolation that comes with his divine purpose.
This makes me want to further explore the old tales of the bible.

[Jennifer (JC-S) · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘Out of the eater came something to eat/Out of the strong came something sweet.’

The story of Samson forms four chapters (13-16) of the Book of Judges. There are a number of aspects to the story, but the best known is that of the strong man who loses his strength when his hair is cut, thanks to Delilah. Samson is imprisoned by the Philistines but, in his final act, is able to bring down a building on himself and three thousand Philistines.

In this brief (145 page) book, written for The Myths series, David Grossman writes of Samson as an individual, an outcast whose freakish strength sets him apart. Samson may well be a national symbol of Jewish fight-back, but in David Grossman’s telling of the story he is also a man who wants to belong, to be accepted by others for himself. Samson is in an impossible position: ‘A lonely man, forever tortured, enslaved by a God who has chosen for him a demanding mission - the salvation of Israel - for which his personality and character are too weak.’

In trying to understand why Samson, finally, breaks down and tells Delilah his secret, David Grossman speculates that it was ‘with the foolish innocence of one who believes that if he were to confide everything to another person, all at once, in a kind of innocent transfusion, he would finally achieve a feeling of genuine intimacy’. Poor Samson.

It isn’t just Samson the man that David Grossman is concerned with. Samson can also be seen as a metaphor for both the Jewish people and the modern state of Israel. David Grossman writes: ‘Jews throughout the ages took pride in the tales of his [Samson's] heroism and yearned for the physical strength, bravery, and manliness that he represented. They esteemed, no less, his ability to apply force without any restraints or moral inhibitions, an ability which history withheld from the trod-upon Jews for millennia, until the establishment of the state of Israel.’

This is the first book in The Myths series that I have read, and I picked it up purely by chance. I enjoyed it. The publisher’s blurb for this series states: ‘Myths are universal and timeless stories that reflect and shape our lives — they explore our desires, our fears, our longings, and provide narratives that remind us what it means to be human. The Myths series brings together some of the world's finest writers, each of whom has retold a myth in a contemporary and memorable way.’

I will be looking to read more books from The Myths series, as time permits.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

[Roy Elmer · Rating 3 out of 5]

As one of the Canongate Myths, I expected a retelling of an age old story, along similar lines to the rest of the series. I've read four or five of them now, and they've all been different, some great, some mediocre, none bad, and Grossman's take on Samson is no exception to this.

What Grossman has not done however, is provide a retelling of the myth of Samson. He has instead produced a work of literary criticism. Only it's not a terribly good work of criticism, if looked at from a critical perspective. While Grossman plays with the myth of Samson and uses a careful selection of evidence in the form of other authors, critics and close analyses of original Hebrew words, he uses this evidence to support theories that have been extracted from the text with little or no evidence for them in the source material. Therefore as a work of pure, historicist criticism, it would fall flat.

That said, this is not pure criticism. What Grossman has done is blend elements of the original Biblical verse with his own theories, crafted from a sense of the artistic and literary and then analysed these flights of fantasy. What we're left with is an interesting hybrid that is readable, interesting, and tells a genuinely good story, giving insight in to the story of Samson. Read it, and enjoy it, but be warned, it's not what you would expect from a Canongate Myth, and as a student of literature, some of the criticism may begin to grate.

[Silvia Jackson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A new slant on an ancient story. The moral is Never trust a Beautiful woman and keep your hat on.😢😢

[Cecily]

Roger described this modern retelling of Samson as:
"part simple narrative, part Talmudic, part Freudian, part contemporary political commentary, and all highly personal."
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Lucy Johnston · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting when I was in the mood to read it, very dull when I was not. More of an essay than a fictionalized retelling.

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

65/100

[Luana Rizea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nu cred că aș putea spune exact ce mi-a plăcut la #MiereaLeului.
Știam povestea lui Samson, așa cum este ea prezentată mereu, tradițional, citită din biblie, povestită pur și simplu, însă #DavidGrossman m-a atras cu #eseul său despre aceeași poveste. A interpretat, analizat povestea despre trădare și iubire, despre țeluri atinse ori ba, despre dezamăgire și speranțe înșelate.
Mi-a plăcut cum a interpretat motivele și simbolurile din spatele legendei, trăgând concluziii captivante, cu o interpretare intrigantă a textului biblic. Un punct de vedere interesant.

[Haris Sladic · Rating 1 out of 5]

Iskreno ne znam sta bih tacno napisao za ovo knjigu. Nije mi se nimalo svidjela. Nije mi nikako jasno zasto je pisac stavio citav dio iz biblije na pocetak, i samim time spojlovo citavu knjigu, a onda uzeo objasnjavat, tumacit itd od pocetka pa sve kako je prica isla. Mislim da je to u mnogome pokvarilo ovo djela. Bolje bi bilo da je stavljao na pocetku poglavlja po jedan dio i onda ga objasnjavo, al eto sta ja znam...

[Mariana Pereira · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lion's Honey: The Myth of Samson is a long form essay/analysis interwoven with a retelling/interpretation of a classic biblical myth. It almost reads as both a non-fiction and a fiction. A problem that arrises from this intermingling of expanding on information that's literally there and then imagining what the characters must be thinking outside of what was written in the source material is that that information starts getting muddled. What was taken from the source material and Grossman's interpretation and sometime reimaginings gets confused.

I'd say my biggest negative is the amount of detail David Grossman puts on the omission of certain information that one character will divulge to another. There is a difference between someone not repeating something verbatim as the narrator describes it in order to avoid being redundant, and a character purposely omitting information for their own personal gain/discomfort. Grossman will spend pages going over exactly why a character may have left out information even though the entire story of Samsung in the Bible as quoted from him is very short and breezes through his entire life in just a matter of a couple pages. Therefore the omission of certain details on the part of the narrator and perhaps not the characters could be for the sake of brevity.

Other than that this is the first book I've read that treats the stories of the Bible as any other regular myth, and that was very interesting and insightful. It takes a much more evenhanded approach of the humanistic elements that are often overshadowed as being puppets for a greater morality tale. The themes of the hero as a villain, fate, deceit, violence, sexuality, woman as either objects to be desired or baby-makers, punishment, death, and more are all explored in further detail in Lion's Honey.

[Márcio · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5/5

Quando comecei a ler Mel de leão, pensava que se tratava de uma novela sobre o mito bíblico de Sansão. Na verdade, trata-se de um estudo/ensaio sobre sua vida, uma análise de sua vida, desde a anunciação de seu nascimento. A leitura é fluida, há temas interessantes que são tratados no decorrer do texto, como a questão da mulher na sociedade hebraica, o peso (im)posto à Sanção em razão da finalidade de sua existência, libertar Israel do jugo exercido pelos filisteus, a incompreensão de todos quanto ao que realmente se passava em seu íntimo, etc.

No entanto, considerando que Grossman possui poucos elementos e documentos com os quais basear suas análises, acaba por produzir um texto em que dominam as hipóteses, o que acaba por retirar um tanto da força do texto.

[Joshua Gross · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fascinating up close look at the story of Samson and Delilah. It wasn't a retelling but the Bible chapters that tell of Samson and then an exploration of what's happening in those chapters. It's surprisingly tragic and unusual.

[Sophie Hudson · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is one of those books where I question why it needed to be written. I'm just not sure who else is reading this book (and enjoying it).

It's half commentary and half retelling from a secular perspective, which creates a sort of weird, poetic prose of Samson's life. The author makes sweeping judgements on the translation and meaning of words without a huge amount of evidence to back it up.

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Autorul nu dezamageste chit ca subiectul nu e unul dintre favoritele mele.

[Ana · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25

[Elazar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprisingly good. Kept my attention, written beautifully and thoughtfully.