![]() Cain visits the Tower of Babel, is present as Abraham prepares to sacrifice Isaac and joins Noah on the ark, but not in the chronological order in which these events appear in the Bible. God’s judgment after Abel’s death is for Cain to be “a restless wanderer.” In Saramago’s hands, he wanders the Book of Genesis, aided by the fact he can go back and forth in time. Saramago’s story of Cain killing his brother Abel is just the starting point. The book is Saramago’s extended literary argument on that point, frequently from Cain’s mouth. ![]() He said the Bible depicts a “ cruel, spiteful, vengeful, jealous and unbearable God” and recommending people not trust that God. Saramago, who died last year, made his position clear on the book’s release in Europe in 2009. And although Wood mentions 1998 Nobel Literature laureate José Saramago, a reader can’t help but wonder just where Saramago’s final novel, Cain, fits in that picture.Ĭain is an assiduous indictment of the God of the Old Testament by re-imagining the brief tale the Bible tells of the title character. Novels, he said, are a vehicle to explore theological arguments and make real the often inherent contradictions of belief. ![]() He says atheists - and some Christian fundamentalists - insist too much on polemic literalism. In an Oxford lecture earlier this year, literary critic James Wood suggested that the “New Atheists” might be well served by looking to the modern novel. ![]()
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