Celia Gurevitch Jewish Community Library

Yesterday I wrote about Elie Wiesel’s Sages and Dreamers, in which we could get to know dozens of historical Jewish figures. Today I would like to write about a book penned by Wiesel’s colleague from Boston University, Robert Pinsky. In this case the whole book is devoted to one quintessential figure: King David. In twelve chapters and 200 pages of The Life of David we learn stories about him both from Jewish and Christian sources and perspectives. Pinsky is a primary a poet, who published several books of poetry of his own, translated a few and wrote prose about poetry. Nextbook, the co-publisher company, has an excellent webpage about the book, including excerpts, a reader’s guide, links to major reviews, and an interview with the author. Here is a relevant segment from the latter, which can shed some light on how the author approached the subject matter.

David’s is the most inclusive life I know: a poet and a warrior, he did terrible things and noble things. We see him at every stage of life: as a boy, in middle age, in old age. He is an artist, a killer, a lover, a politician, a Robin Hood, a dissembler, a builder, an Odysseus, a musician, a King Lear, a founding father, and an upstart.
As Adam is the seed, containing the whole range of human potential, David is the flowering.