num_pages: 442
description: The Nazarene's success ('39) gave Asch a financial security he'd never known before, likely incensing critics further. As the situation in Europe worsened, his detractors more vitriolic, Asch &amp; his wife, who had been living in France, retreated to Stamford, CT, at the urging of friends &amp; family. There he began working on the life of Paul while writing short stories about the Jews' dire situation in Nazi-occupied Europe. In '43, he published The Apostle. Predictably, the Yiddish press lambasted it. This time, however, most mainstream critics were also lukewarm. (Paul is "so complex, mystical &amp; Xian a matter that Asch misses him," Kazin concluded.) Nevertheless, his Xological series continued to rack up sales. The Apostle was a Book-of-the-Month Club selection. Mary, which appeared in '49, was the least successful of the three. his longtime translator, Maurice Samuel—whose English versions Irving Howe preferred to the original—refused to take on the project. Certainly there was a degree of hubris in writing the Xological trilogy, egoism mixed with naiveté &amp; poor timing. He must have believed his intentions would be clear no matter what, that his act of mediation between the two religions would somehow be understood &amp; matter in such fraught times. The public became more receptive to such ideas after Geza Vermes published Jesus the Jew in '73.
language: English
title: Mary
titlecomplete: Mary
characters: Jesus, Mary (mother of Jesus), Joseph (bible - husband of Mary)
genres: Fiction, Literature, Religion, Historical Fiction
ratings_count: 70
publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons (NY)