Description
Through the centuries, Civitas Dei – the City of God – has shone as an inexhaustible source of inspiration for poets, mystics, and artists alike. This volume, despite its inevitable limitations, stands as the first true Jerusalem anthology drawn from the vast treasury of world literature. Within its pages, the responses of travellers, poets, and visionaries to both the heavenly and earthly city – the eternal ‘rock of ages’ – come vividly to life.
Guided by an impartial hand, the editor gathers material from an extraordinary range of sources, many rarely encountered, to create a luminous literary portrait of the holiest city on earth. The result is a moving and multifaceted revelation of Jerusalem – the ‘city of the world’s tears’ – seen through the eyes of those who have sought and sung its spirit.
Contents
Preface by Graham Greene
City of grief and hope
Part One: The Story of Jerusalem
1. Origins: David and Solomon
2. The fortunes of the City
3. Twenty-five centuries of mourning
4. Jesus
5. Pilgrimages
6. The Crusades
7. Messiah
Part Two: The Image of Jerusalem
8. Behold the City: sightseers and wayfarers
9. The Heavenly City
10. City of the future
Acknowledgements and Selected Bibliography
Detailed list of Contents
About the Author
Miron Grindea edited the Adam International Review, the renowned Anglo-French literary magazine, from 1941 until his death in 1995. Featuring contributors such as T.S. Eliot, H.G. Wells, and Samuel Beckett, the journal devoted entire issues to major authors and national literatures. He was a frequent university lecturer worldwide and regularly contributed to The Sunday Times, The Observer, The Guardian, The Listener, Les Nouvelles Littéraires and Figaro. Grindea was honoured with the MBE, OBE, a D.Lit from Kent University, and the French distinctions of Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur and Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.
Reviews
A splendid miscellany of prose, legend and history.
The Daily Telegaph
The texts chosen by Miron Grindea make his Jerusalem the antidote to the Tower of Babel.
The Catholic Herald
A living book, unique in the picture it gives of the truly Eternal City.
The Jewish Chronicle
A sheer delight.
View, SPCK
This is a most remarkable anthology.
The Spectator
