- Published: 3 December 2018
- ISBN: 9780099587224
- Imprint: Vintage
- Format: Paperback
- Pages: 432
- RRP: $45.00
The Rise and Fall of Adam and Eve
- Published: 3 December 2018
- ISBN: 9780099587224
- Imprint: Vintage
- Format: Paperback
- Pages: 432
- RRP: $45.00
With all his usual clarity and freshness, one of our foremost literary historians and critics sets out a comprehensive picture of how a story foundational for European civilization developed, from its origins in western Asia to its much-contested place in the post-Darwinian world… This is a rich, learned, lively book, which should engage all who are interested in the history of our imagination and the interweavings of faith, poetics, and philosophy.
Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury
Greenblatt's inexhaustible curiosity goes without saying; what makes this book a wonder is its passion … nothing less than a love story, a hymn. Who would have thought scholarship could be so ardent or so poignant?
Howard Jacobson, winner of the MAN Booker Prize
Human beings have always told stories about who we are and where we came from … In this enchanting book, Stephen Greenblatt puts this ancient story into historical, literary, and artistic context, helping to illuminate how we humans have chosen to think about ourselves.
Sean Carroll, New York Times bestselling author of THE BIG PICTURE
Thought-provoking
Roger Lewis, The Times
This is a learned book, but Greenblatt’s passion for story-telling makes it read like a series of fascinating anecdotes… The Rise and Fall of Adam and Eve is exhilarating to read and a feast for the mind
John Carey, Sunday Times
Enthralling, thrilling… Along the way, there is an often hilarious account of scholastic efforts to rationalise the myth’s illogic, and an array of entertaining heresies… What gives Greenblatt’s "intellectual adventure" its tension and excitement is a sense of his own divided loyalties
Peter Conrad, Observer
Erudite, wide-ranging, thought-provoking and elegantly fashioned
Darragh McManus, Irish Independent
Pellucid, absorbing and for many contemporary readers surely definitive account
John Gray, New Statesman
Fascinating
Christina Borg, Sunday Times
A compelling, all-encompassing story of myth, theology and belief ... He delves deftly and lucidly into theology... Fascinating
Sam Leith, Spectator
Greenblatt, on excellent form here, visits familiar destinations ... with fresh eyes, and opens up new interpretative vistas ... Hefty themes are covered in this spellbinding book, but the learning is worn lightly.
Jonathan Wright, BBC History magazine
Thrilling … a study of western disenchantment, of intellectual progress, of the fading powers of the myths of a simpler age. But it is a more complex study than that. It is also an ode to human creativity and to the powerful grip of narrative
Tim Whitmarsh, Guardian
Vibrant and accessible… It is a fascinating subject, and Greenblatt brings to it all the skill of his distinguished career as a scholar and cultural interpreter. His narrative moves briskly from one (arguably) historically pivotal moment to the next. His reading of Milton, whom he greatly admires, is especially illuminating. The whole book is lit up with flashes of insight… This is a very engaging book which explores a rich seam in European history and culture… Well worth reading
Teresa Morgan, Tablet
Greenblatt sets out to tell the story of the story – and it’s just as fascinating. Greenblatt canters through millennia of human history with ease
James Marriott, The Times
Tunnelling upwards from the murky beginnings of our origin myth through its myriad interpretations by Augustine, Michelangelo, Durer, Milton, Darwin and more, this riveting book raises essential questions about the nature of narrative.
Claire Lowdon, Sunday Times
Greenblatt is utterly engaging.
Miri Rubin, Prospect
While some of the conclusions are provocative, that’s always half the fun with Greenblatt.
Jonathan Wright, The Catholic Herald
[A] wonderfully readable account of the most potent of all myths
Simon Shaw, Mail on Sunday
A fascinating book, which throws light on a good many dark corners about what we think we know
Ian Harrison, Methodist Recorder, *Books of the Year*