The red tent

by Anita Diamant

Paper Book, 1998

Status

Available

Call number

Local Author Diamant

Barcode

11441

Publication

New York : Picador USA, 1998.

Description

Fiction. Literature. HTML: In this modern classic interpretation of the biblical story of Dinah, Anita Diamant imagines the traditions and turmoils of ancient womanhood�the world of The Red Tent, a New York Times bestseller and the basis of the A&E/Lifetime mini-series. Twentieth Anniversary Edition In the Bible, Dinah's life is only hinted at in a brief and violent detour within the more familiar chapters of the Book of Genesis that tell of her father, Jacob, and his twelve sons. The Red Tent begins with the story of the mothers�Leah, Rachel, Zilpah, and Bilhah�the four wives of Jacob. They love Dinah and give her gifts that sustain her through childhood, a calling to midwifery, and a new home in a foreign land. Dinah's story reaches out from a remarkable period of early history and creates an intimate connection with the past. Deeply affecting, The Red Tent combines rich storytelling and the valuable achievement of presenting a new view of biblical women's lives..… (more)

Media reviews

The Red Tent instantly drew me in from its very first paragraph. The narrative voice, that of Dinah, reminded me a lot of that of Margaret Atwood’s wonderful Penelopiad which I read last year. It was strong but slightly melancholy and conveyed the same idea of reclaiming the story of a marginal
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woman from a great male narrative, telling the story from a new, feminine perspective and revealing what ‘really’ happened.

The red tent of the title is the separate tent set aside for the women where they go while menstruating to keep apart from the men. The Red Tent then is a very appropriate title as the book focused almost exclusively on feminine concerns: becoming a woman, giving birth and finding a husband. I appreciated this insight into their secret world and I liked the idea of telling a masculine story to recentre it around the women.
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Language

Original publication date

1997-09-08

ISBN

9780312195519
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