I suspect that it is impossible to carry out an inventory of all the adaptations of the Bible made to date in book form. As much as the biblical text, original and in its entirety, is cheap and easy to find in any bookstore, church or hotel drawer, it is never exactly simple for a modern reader to approach them. In addition to the enormous diversity of perspectives and authors in the dozens of books that make up the Scriptures, the structure and internal logic of the texts are very different from what we expect today. That is why, for example, there are so many versions of the Bible for children and young people, generally “richly illustrated” (as they used to say) or in comics.
But it is quite possible that this type of version is not only useful for children, as shown by the unusual volume that came to my hands a few weeks ago. “Bible: The Founding Stories”, a work produced by a French duo (writer Frédéric Boyer and illustrator Serge Bloch), has an unusual freshness even for those who already know the book’s narratives by heart and sautéed.
The beautiful example above, with the death of the Philistine giant Goliath at the hands (and the sling and stone) of young David, helps to give an idea of how Bloch’s illustrations work, which marry very well with Boyer’s minimalist text. The two decided to address only the Hebrew Bible or Christian Old Testament — a wise choice considering that, in general, the narratives with the greatest imagery and most memorable characters really are in this part of Scripture.
I think the set works well because the telegraphic language of the book simply takes up and exacerbates a trend that is already present in the most important narrative texts in the Bible, such as Genesis or the two books of Samuel. As several experts have already demonstrated, the essential feature of biblical narrative literature is the tremendous economy in dealing with things like descriptions, psychological motivations of characters, etc.
Often these texts only show actions and dialogues in the most concentrated and quick way possible, and it is up to the reader to try to connect the other dots of what is happening on their own (which is why, of course, they have provoked so many different interpretations over the millennia. ).
At the end of the book, each of the 35 chapters receives a very brief commentary on the literary and historical aspects of each narrative. They are clear little texts full of erudition, which should create in the reader the desire to know more.
The book was recently released by Editora 34, with a translation by Bernardo Ajzenberg.
