Review/Synopsis of The Book of Lilith
The Book of Lilith is a work of serious fiction. You shouldfind it entertaining, and it should make you think. The general categoryfor the work is magical realism, or perhaps satiric fantasy in thespirit of Barth's Chimera. It is a story set in apseudo-academic framing story involving the supposed discovery of lostscrolls in war-torn Iraq by a somewhat mysterious maiden, who is thensubjected to a very hard time by the various patriarchal sides ofthe war's participants. This part is pure black humor, but can be a bitshocking as well. They should be, as events like the ones portrayed turnup in my newspaper every week, where somehow they've lost all theirshock value.
These scrolls, when translated, turn out to be the oldest writtendocuments ever discovered, the first person story of Lilithherself. This is a clear spoof on the Nag Hammadi scrollsdiscovered by an Arab peasant in Egypt in 1945, that were kept aroundhis house and (alas) even used to start fires before it was discoveredthat they contained very early copies of books that were purged out ofthe New Testament by the Council of Nicaea in 325 CE: the Gnosticgospels, as well as the Book of Thomas (not properly a Gnostic text asThomas was of course an Apostle).
Although the frame is just part of the story, it is toldrealistically enough that it fooled at least one early readerinto asking me if he could "see the real scrolls" (whereupon I added acareful note at the beginning pointing out that the book isfiction). Fiction or not, the story itself is carefullyresearched and Lilith's adventures span four cultures from the earlyBronze or late Stone age. It is not just a physical travelogue,however, it is a spiritual travelogue, as Lilith takes from eachplace a painful lesson on her road to wisdom.
Lilith doesn't travel alone on this journey; she takes the readerwith her as the crazy course of her life ensouled carries herfrom its beginnings in a magical Eden located in ancient Sumeria toSidon in early Phoenicia, to Mohenjo Daro and the Harrapan civilization,and finally to a wicked and corrupt India in the years immediatelypreceding the violent cleansing portrayed in the Mahabharata.The Book of Lilith is lovingly derived from many scholarly andhistorical works and epics, including The Book of Genesis, the Epicof Gilgamesh, the Upanishads, the Alphabet ofBen-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 portrayedby various patriarchal writings. She is a real person. She isthe first, untamed wife of Adam, with a surprising relationship with themore submissive Eve. In fact, she is the first real person giftedwith a soul by God, and it is her appointed task to bring the giftof Soul to all things in Creation (beginning with Adam) by means of herlove, just as it is Adam's task to bring about the rule of Law and hencebegin the process of evolving a just and ethical society.
That's not to say that Lilith isn't more than a bit magical. To doher job she has been given a tiny bit of the miraculous power of God,which she uses for better or worse as her life evolves. Her life doescome with some very definite percs. For example, she enjoys bothpreternatural knowledge of all things but herself and apersonal relationship -- one that involves sharing sushi andshopping trips to early bazaars - with Goddess in the metaphor ofInanna (given that any human representation of God is at heart ananthropomorphic projection of a genderless state of Perfect Knowledgeand Perfect Being). Herself she must learn about the hard way, just asyou or I might.
Many themes (some of them somewhat disturbing or even shocking, bewarned) are woven into the story, but the overall story is one ofgrowth. Lilith is in turn an eager (and somewhat naive andfoolish) young bride in love, a young mother coping with what turns outto be a possessive, insecure, and slovenly husband, a beaten and rapedwife who prefers to work as a harlot to feed herself and her childrenrather than ever again be "owned" by any man, a miracle worker belovedby God and granted the power to heal the sick or punish the wicked, apenetrating judge who can plumb the depths of the darkest heart andconsign its possessor to freedom or a horrible death, and, in the end,something more. She is throughout her life a seductive loverwith the uninhibited knowledge of sexual pleasure she is ever willing toshare -- as long as she gets to be on top, or at least to taketurns.
At the end of all this -- eventually -- she turns out to be neither morenor less than an extraordinary human being who suffers from her prideand mistakes, who struggles with her appointed task (sometimessucceeding and sometimes failing) and who learns from the pain andreward of a life well spent that knowledge and wisdom are not the samething.
There are surprises and adventures, wickedness and great good, laughterand tears, and -- perhaps -- a nugget or two of wisdom, so give it atry. I think you'll enjoy it!
