Review/Synopsis of The Book of Lilith
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, who is then
subjected to a very hard time by the various patriarchal sides of
the war's participants. This part is pure black humor, but can be a bit
shocking as well. They should be, as events like the ones portrayed turn
up in my newspaper every week, where somehow they've lost all their
shock value.
These scrolls, when translated, turn out to be the oldest written
documents ever discovered, the first person story of Lilith
herself. This is a clear spoof on the Nag Hammadi scrolls
discovered by an Arab peasant in Egypt in 1945, that were kept around
his house and (alas) even used to start fires before it was discovered
that they contained very early copies of books that were purged out of
the New Testament by the Council of Nicaea in 325 CE: the Gnostic
gospels, as well as the Book of Thomas (not properly a Gnostic text as
Thomas was of course an Apostle).
Although the frame is just part of the story, it is told
realistically enough that it fooled at least one early reader
into asking me if he could "see the real scrolls" (whereupon I added a
careful note at the beginning pointing out that the book is
fiction). Fiction or not, the story itself is carefully
researched and Lilith's adventures span four cultures from the early
Bronze or late Stone age. It is not just a physical travelogue,
however, it is a spiritual travelogue, as Lilith takes from each
place a painful lesson on her road to wisdom.
Lilith doesn't travel alone on this journey; she 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.
The Book of Lilith 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. She is
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.
That's not to say that Lilith isn't more than a bit magical. To do
her 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 does
come with some very definite percs. For example, she enjoys both
preternatural knowledge of all things but herself 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). Herself she must learn about the hard way, just as
you or I might.
Many themes (some of them somewhat disturbing or even shocking, be
warned) are woven into the story, but the overall story is one of
growth. Lilith is in turn an eager (and somewhat naive and
foolish) 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, in the end,
something more. She is throughout her life 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!
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it! Lilith rocks, spread the word!
