Eve (4)

"The serpent beguiled me, and I ate."

The following books will introduce you to Eve, who said these words in Genesis 3:13 (Revised Standard Version). Because the earliest woman, however we designate her, must necessarily predate records that would pinpoint her historically, I treat her as legendary (but see Brown for the evidence from genetic archaeology).

To order a book, or for more information, visit Amazon.com, or return home to browse other characters. For related books, see Adam.

Fox, Everett (Trans.). The Five Books of Moses. New York: Schocken Books, 1997.
- Fox's majestic translation incorporates some Hebrew names and terms, explaining them in excellent, informative footnotes. For example: Havva (Eve, "life-giver"). Although Adam speaks the first words in Genesis, Eve has the first conversation--with the serpent.
Milton, John. Paradise Lost (Norton Critical Edition; Scott Elledge, Ed.). Norton, 1993.
- Milton's expansive poetry explores subtleties of Eve's character and motivation. Despite its judgment of her, the poet in the end enlarges sympathy for her life, too often reduced to the moment of temptation.
McColley, Diane Kelsey. Milton's Eve. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1983.
- McColley does a tremendous job, freshly interpreting Eve as Milton reveals her. Milton's Eve shares the task of tending the Garden with Adam, and they function harmoniously in love and work. Paradoxically, it is her very impulse to share responsibility that leads to the Fall.
Platt, R. H. and Brett, J. A. (Eds.). Lost Books of the Bible and the Forgotten Books of Eden. New American Library, 1994.
- The many faces of Eve in apocryphal accounts of the first couple. (See also Barnstone, The Other Bible under Adam.)
Büchmann, Christina and Spiegel, Celina (Eds.). Out of the Garden: Women Writers on the Bible. Fawcett, 1995.
- Includes essays by Barbara Grizzuti Harrison on Eve, Fay Weldon on Samson and Delilah, Elizabeth Swados on her off-Broadway play about Job, and others by Louise Erdrich, Cynthia Ozick, Ursula LeGuin.
Sölle, Dorothée and Kirchberger, Joe H. Great Women of the Bible in Art and Literature (J. H. Kirchberger, Trans.). Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 1993.
- Sumptuous coffee-table book with beautiful reproductions of art about Eve, Lilith, Judith, Mary, etc. Also features excellent text placing their cultural influence in perspective.
Twain, Mark. The Diaries of Adam and Eve. Fair Oaks Press, 2002.
- Twain's "translation" of the first-person accounts of the Fall is full of more tender wit than acerbity. Read how Adam learns about the "new creature with the long hair" and how he discovers that there can be no Eden without Eve.
Zornberg, Avivah. The Beginning of Desire: Reflections on Genesis. Image Books, 1996.
- Well-informed essays by this biblical scholar, who was a lively asset to Bill Moyers Genesis shown on public television.

Moyers, Bill D. Genesis: A Living Conversation. Doubleday, 1997.
- Companion volume to the PBS series, which gathered writers, artists, and scholars--Jewish, Christian, and Muslim--and let them loose to argue over the very human stories told in the Old Testament's premier book.
Brown, Michael H. The Search for Eve. New York: HarperCollins, 1990.
- Brown recounts the biological evidence for a "mitochondrial Eve," the most recent common female ancestor of everyone alive today.

Top | More Biblical | Browse More Characters | Home