DAVID'S STRANGER

by Moshe Shamir ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1965

The scheme of this novel, actually a re-working and re- interpretation of Biblical materials and characters, could be used as the prologue for a melodrama. A marked man writes a manuscript knowing that he will soon be killed; in the manuscript he justifies the murderer's act even though he does not know his identity. In this instance it is Uriah the Hittite, husband of Bathsheba and King David's devoted general. David is about to send him on a hopeless mission and as the story opens. Uriah arrives at the besieged walls of Rabbah where David's troops are readying for an attack. David himself is in Jerusalem and wants Uriah put into the forefront of the coming action so that he will be slain by the enemy. As Uriah sits brooding in his tent, he writes all this out, rehearsing his relationships with David and Bathsheba. The more he recollects, the more he reveals to himself that David has always kept his hands clean by having others murder for him. Uriah finally discovers the truth and goes off to his death willingly, not a cuckold but a martyr. He had, he admits, never satisfied his wife anyway.... The story itself is vivid but there is much rhetoric.

Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1965

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Abelard-Schuman

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1965

Categories: FICTION