Title: Robert Graves and the Hebrew myths : a collaboration /
Authors: Patai, Raphael, 1910-1996.; Graves, Robert, 1895-1985
Publisher: Wayne State University Press,
Year: 1992
Subjects: Patai, Raphael, Correspondence.; Graves, Robert,; Graves, Robert, Correspondence.; Bible. Criticism, interpretation, etc.; Authors, English Correspondence; Jewish mythology.; Mythology, Semitic.; Jewish scholars Correspondence.
Abstract: This book tells the story of the thirty-year friendship between Robert Graves and Raphael Patai, and in particular, the story of the literary collaboration that culminated in their joint authorship of the Hebrew Myths: The Book of Genesis. The friendship between Graves and Patai began in 1947 when Graves, having read Patai's book Man and Temple, wrote him a "fan letter" full of remarkable scholarly comments and reflections. It was the beginning of an exchange of letters between the two authors that led to their participation in each other's books and studies, joint public appearances in lectures and interviews, mutual visits, and a lasting friendship. In addition to the nearly two hundred letters they exchanged that are published here for the first time, the book contains the full recorded texts of a long conversation between them about the Hebrew myths, a joint lecture in New York City, and a radio interview.^
Contents: 1. Man and Temple and the First Graves Letter -- 2. The "Hebrew Installation Rites" -- 3. King Jesus and The White Goddess -- 4. "Pharaoh's Chariot Wheels" -- 5. Visit to Israel -- 1949 -- 6. The Nazarene Gospel Restored -- 7. A Scholarly Miscellany -- 8. Reviews of The Nazarene Gospel Restored -- 9. On the Lecture and Research Circuit -- 10. Irene's Novel -- 11. First Meeting with Graves -- 12. The Hebrew Myths -- Conception and Inception -- 13. The Hebrew Myths Takes Shape -- 14. The First Two Chapters Done -- 15. The Biblical Encyclopaedia -- An Attempt -- 16. Work Intensifies -- 17. A Photographic Session at Doubleday -- 18. A Conversation Taped -- 19. Problems with the Introduction -- 20. Graves's Hillel Lecture -- 21. To Majorca! -- 22. Guests of Graves -- 23. The Hillel Affair -- 24. More Chapters in the Works -- 25. Introduction and Conclusion -- 26. Preparations for the Y Lecture -- 27. The Discussion at the Y -- 28. Work on the Proofs -- First Copy in Hand -- 29. The Martha Deane Interview -- 30. The Black Goddess and the Hebrew Goddess -- 31. Reviews and Translations of the Hebrew Myths -- 32. The Hebrew Goddess in Graves's Song of Songs -- 33. Last Letters -- Appendix: Myth and Hebrew Myth.