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The Book of Lilith
For other uses of the word Succubus, see Succubus (disambiguation).
For other uses of the name Lilith, see Lilith (disambiguation).
The Book of Lilith is a book written by Robert G. Brown.
Book Details
- Title: The Book of Lilith
- Author: Robert G. Brown
- Format: Paperback
- Pages: 240
- Publisher: Lulu.com
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1430322454
- ISBN-13: 978-1430322450
- Release Date: July 31, 2007
Book Synopsis
The Book of Lilith tells the story of Lilith, who was really the first woman created by God, and who just happened to have been created before Adam. Her job is to give all the things in the world souls, while Adam's is to create rules and law out of chaos. Unfortunately, Adam likes to have sex with Lilith only in the Adam-on-top position. This leads to, shall we say, "problems". The Book of Lilith is alternately funny, serious, surreal, and amazing as Lilith embarks on a Zen journey around the world giving things souls and giving birth to a god. It is more than a little bit deep, and yet very, very entertaining.
Book Review
The following review, written by the author of this book can be found at the Amazon.com link in the External Links Below
- Author Review
- August 27, 2007
- By Robert G. Brown
The Book of Lilith is a work of serious fiction. You should find it entertaining, and it should make you think. The general category for the work is magical realism, or perhaps satiric fantasy in the spirit of Barth's Chimera. It is a story set in a pseudo-academic framing story involving the supposed discovery of lost scrolls in war-torn Iraq by a somewhat mysterious maiden.
These scrolls, when translated, turn out to be the oldest written documents ever discovered, the first person story of Lilith herself. Although the frame is of course just part of the story (and yet told realistically enough that it fooled at least one early reader into asking the author "so where are the real scrolls") the story itself is carefully researched and spans four cultures from the early Bronze or late Stone age. Lilith takes the reader with her as the crazy course of her life ensouled carries her from its beginnings in a magical Eden located in ancient Sumeria to Sidon in early Phoenicia, to Mohenjo Daro and the Harrapan civilization, and finally to a wicked and corrupt India in the years immediately preceding the violent cleansing portrayed in the Mahabharata. It is lovingly derived from many scholarly and historical works and epics, including The Book of Genesis, the Epic of Gilgamesh, the Upanishads, the Alphabet of Ben-Sirra, the Dead Sea Scrolls and more.
Note well that the Lilith portrayed is not the "goddess" worshipped by various cults, nor is she the she-demon portrayed by various patriarchal writings. She is a real person -- the first, untamed wife of Adam, with a surprising relationship with the more submissive Eve. In fact, she is the first real person gifted with a soul by God, and it is her appointed task to bring the gift of Soul to all things in Creation (beginning with Adam) by means of her love, just as it is Adam's task to bring about the rule of Law and hence begin the process of evolving a just and ethical society. Lilith enjoys both preternatural knowledge and a personal relationship -- one that involves sharing sushi and shopping trips to early bazaars - with Goddess in the metaphor of Inanna (given that any human representation of God is at heart an anthropomorphic projection of a genderless state of Perfect Knowledge and Perfect Being).
Many themes (some of them somewhat disturbing or even shocking, be warned) are woven into the story. Lilith is in turn an eager young bride in love, a young mother coping with what turns out to be a possessive, insecure, and slovenly husband, a beaten and raped wife who prefers to work as a harlot to feed herself and her children rather than ever again be "owned" by any man, a miracle worker beloved by God and granted the power to heal the sick or punish the wicked, a penetrating judge who can plumb the depths of the darkest heart and consign its possessor to freedom or a horrible death, and (throughout) a seductive lover with the uninhibited knowledge of sexual pleasure she is ever willing to share -- as long as she gets to be on top, or at least to take turns.
At the end of all this -- eventually -- she turns out to be neither more nor less than an extraordinary human being who suffers from her pride and mistakes, who struggles with her appointed task (sometimes succeeding and sometimes failing) and who learns from the pain and reward of a life well spent that knowledge and wisdom are not the same thing.
There are surprises and adventures, wickedness and great good, laughter and tears, and -- perhaps -- a nugget or two of wisdom, so give it a try. I think you'll enjoy it!