Adamgirk`: The Adam Book of Arak`el of Siwnik` (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780199204779)

This is the first English translation of the major Armenian epic on Adam and Eve composed by Arak'el of Siwnik' in the early fifteenth century. Arak'el writes extremely powerful narrative poetry, as in his description of the brilliance of paradise, of Satan's mustering his hosts against Adam and Eve, and Eve's inner struggle between obedience to God and Satan's seduction. In parts the epic is in dialogue form between Adam, Eve, and God. It also pays much attention to the typology of Adam and Christ, or Adam's sin and death and Christ's crucifixion. By implication, this story, from an Eastern Christian tradition, is the story of all humans, and bears comparison with later biblical epics, such as Milton's Paradise Lost. Michael E. Stone's version preserves a balance between literary felicity and faithfulness to the original. His Introduction sets the work and its author in historical, religious, and literary context.

Author: Michael E. Stone
ISBN-10: 0199204772
ISBN-13: 9780199204779
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Language: English
Published: 04/19/2007
Pages: 348
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.19lbs
Size: 8.57h x 5.94w x 1.00d

Review Citation(s):
Choice 10/02/2007 pg. 278