Volume 44, Number 16 · October 23, 1997
Drunk with Love
By Alicia Ostriker
The Song of Songs: A New Translation
with an Introduction and Commentary by Ariel Bloch, by Chana Bloch, afterword by Robert Alter
Random House, 253 pp., $27.50
'Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine' is the famous opening of the Song of Songs in the King James Version of the Bible. 'Kiss me, make me drunk with your kisses!' is Ariel and Chana Bloch's rather more imperative translation. Either way, we are plunged into a breathlessly seductive love scene. The remainder of this short biblical book is essentially an erotic dialogue between lovers who alternately yearn for, recall, invite, and celebrate each other's embraces in language rich with metaphors which are both explicit and cryptic, and which have generated continuing scholarly disputes over their meaning.
Review, 3620 words
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