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| Cover of my softbound copy of Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ. |
I started reading the book
Ben-Hur on Christmas Day (December 25, 2018) and finished on Easter Sunday (April 21, 2019).
Prior to reading this book, my only awareness of Ben-Hur was the reputation of the
classic 1959 movie of the same name. A year or so ago, I was pondering possible movies for our men's movie group (from church at that time) might be interested in getting together to watch. Being a classic biblical movie, Ben-Hur seemed a logical possibility. At that time, I also contemplated reading the book. Alas, neither came about.
With the movie and book in mind, I purchased a copy of
The Illustrated Ben-Hur (see below) at a used book sale. However, despite the impressive drawings, the font was not very welcoming for reading. And so the book sat. And then, sometime in November, I came across the softbound version shown above. I got it from our local grocery store used book exchange shelf for $1. Although there were no illustrations, the layout seemed appealing for reading.
Here are the particulars:
- First Harper Perennial Legacy Edition published 2015.
- Originally published in 1880
- Printed in the USA.
- No illustrations.
- The (14 page) Introduction by John Swansburg was "repurposed" from an article originally published on line on Slate.
- 437 pages (not including the Title page, copyright, Contents, etc and Introduction).
At first, I started to jot down definitions and phrases that I was not familiar with. Then, being so inspired, I started reading the Illustrated Ben-Hur too. Both have the same text. I would read a chapter (out loud) from the softbound copy, and then read (aloud) the same chapter from the Illustrated edition.
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| Dust jacket for my copy of The Illustrated Ben-Hur. |
This took quite awhile: Perhaps one chapter per week. In order to save some time, I cut back on jotting notes.
The details for the Illustrated Edition:
- Published by Bonanza Books (New York) in 1978.
- Reprint of the 1901 issued of the edition first published in 1899 (originally in two volumes).
- Illustrated with drawings (over 850) by William Martin Johnson.
- 854 pages (total for both "volumes").
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Sample of illustrated edition:
first page of the story. |
Sometime early in 2019, I learned of a planned showing of the 1959 movie on the big screen on Palm Sunday (4/14/2019) to celebrate its 60th anniversary. Initially, I hoped to finish the book in time to see the movie but I quickly realized it was not going to happen. Also, I decided to skip the movie when I realized it is almost 4 hours long.
I would love to write more about this book. The author,
Lew Wallace, led a fascinating life (which is briefly told in the Introduction of the softbound edition-see link to the
Slate version). He wrote the book somewhat as defense of Christianity as well as an exercise to increase his knowledge of his own faith. Surprisingly (Spoiler Alert!), while the book deals with the miracles and execution of Jesus, it is completely silent about the
Resurrection. Overall, this story was mostly an historical adventure with a dab of Christian infatuation at the end (which was slightly disappointing but wasn't too over the top to ruin it for me).
In conclusion, I'm glad I read it. And I'm glad that I researched some of the unfamiliar places, history, and Greek and Roman gods. The text was a little challenging due to its flowery and lofty style but reading out loud helped. It was worth the effort. On to the movie next (via DVD).
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Links:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben-Hur%3A_A_Tale_of_the_Christ
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben-Hur_(1959_film)
http://www.slate.com/articles/life/history/2013/03/ben_hur_and_lew_wallace_how_the_scapegoat_of_shiloh_became_one_of_the_best.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lew_Wallace
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Written Saturday 27 April 2019.
