Books in Brief: The Rape of Tamar

The Rape of Tamar, by Dan Jacobson (Macmillan, 224 pp., $5.95). Can an Old Testament tale of incest, rape and fratricide be told with taste and humor? Seems unlikely. But Jacobson brings it off. Brilliantly. King David’s son Amon develops an insane passion for his sister Tamar, rapes her, and is murdered by his vengeful brother, Absalom. Typical gory ancient Hebrew fare, yet the narrator, Yonadab, a royal cousin, relates it all ironically. “Such melodrama!” he exclaims. “What a lack of moderation and good taste…” Yonadab, while living, manipulated the characters, stage-managed the rape and murder for his own amusement. In death his punishment is to tell the tale endlessly through eternity. He speaks in modern idiom and the jerk and dance of these Biblical characters, separated from us by 120 generations, come vividly to life.

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P. S. Coyne

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The Rape of Tamar, by Dan Jacobson (Macmillan, 224 pp., $5.95). Can an Old Testament tale of incest, rape and fratricide be told with taste and humor? Seems unlikely. But Jacobson brings it off. Brilliantly. King David’s son Amon develops an insane passion for his sister Tamar, rapes her, and is murdered by his vengeful brother, Absalom. Typical gory ancient Hebrew fare, yet the narrator, Yonadab, a royal cousin, relates it all ironically. “Such melodrama!” he exclaims. “What a lack of moderation and good taste…” Yonadab, while living, manipulated the characters, stage-managed the rape and murder for his own amusement. In death his punishment is to tell the tale endlessly through eternity. He speaks in modern idiom and the jerk and dance of these Biblical characters, separated from us by 120 generations, come vividly to life.