Beauty and the Enigma

Key essays linked by the metaphorical techniques of psychoanalysis, and focussing on the ambiguity, subversiveness and enigmatic beauty of biblical texts, notably the Song of Songs and the prophets. This book is a collection of Landy's studies on the poetics of the Hebrew Bible. The Song of Songs is featured alongside the prophetic voices of Amos. Hosea and Isaiah, and essays on the Binding of Isaac and on the book of Ruth. Throughout, the emphasis throughout is on the subversiveness, richness and ambiguity of the text, but above all its (often enigmatic) beauty. The thread of psychoanalysis and its metaphorical technique draws together this collection from one of the Bible's most sensitive and distinctive literary critics.