Tuesday 12 January 2021

The Meaning Of The Title Of "Birthright"/"Esau"

"Esau."

"And the old, old legend crashed into his awareness." (p. 123)

I quoted this sentence here as an Andersonian moment of realization but neglected to cite its Biblical source: Gen 25: 29-34. Repeated rereading is necessary to grasp every nuance. How many Biblical titles does Anderson have?

Addendum: I am still missing something. More later.

3 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

I was aware of the story in Genesis of how the devious Jacob defrauded his older brother Esau of his birthright. And my original thought was the Baburites were trying to deprive the Suleimanites of their birthright. But I now see how Anderson had another, different, or additional meaning in mind.

I am starting to think there must be at least HUNDREDS of quotes, allusions, references, etc., to the Bible in Anderson's works. But I would have to skim thru lists of Anderson's stories and novels to find more explicitly Biblical titles among his works.

Ad astra! Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Sean,

"Esau" and GENESIS are a start.

Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

They are, and I'm sure more can be found.

And in fairness to Jacob, when I looked up your link to Genesis 25-29-34, he did not exactly defraud Esau of his birthright. Rather, he sold it cheaply to Jacob for a bowl of stew!

Ad astra! Sean