Smeared Type

by Nancy Werking Poling

also author of Out of the Pumpkin Shell

My most recent book just came off the press: Had Eve Come First and Jonah Been a Woman (Wipf & Stock, pub.).

Following is the blurb and two endorsements that appear on the cover:

In Hebrew scripture men always get the exiting roles: leader, prophet, war hero. Convinced that women, too, need powerful stories that can inform them about who they are in relation to God, Nancy Werking Poling has imagined biblical men as women. A female Samson tells of the elders trying to take away her power; Nochat (Noah), who is trying to raise God-honoring children in violent times, rebukes God for destroying creation: Mosiah leads abused sisters to freedom; a female Jacob struggles with her capacity for deceit and destruction. Readers are sure to find inspiration in a creative approach to scripture that incorporates women’s wisdom, suffering, and courage.

“Nancy Werking Poling has created for readers a rare gift: a woman’s perspective on the biblical story that is not only deeply imaginative but also surprises us at every turn! With fresh and startling insight, her biblical women upend our old, “normative” assumptions about the nature of God Most High—and thus re-create the ancient impact of scripture as it was first heard. Beautifully written and full of ‘Aha’s!’”

Gail Anderson Ricciuti

Associate Professor of Homiletics, Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School

“Through an incisive and gripping retelling of the biblical stories Nancy Werking Poling allows contemporary women to find in them the voice and power that they have been denied by the original authors. These stories are vehicles for liberation, for they not only reinvent the old world but also imagine a new one. The book is a must for all those who are engaged in the construction of a more just and inclusive society.”

Osvaldo D. Vena

Professor of New Testament Interpretation, Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary

As of now the book is only available through the publisher, Wipf & Stock, which offers a 20% discount ($12.80).

http://wipfandstock.com/store/Had_Eve_Come_First_and_Jonah_Been_a_Woman

It will soon be on Amazon and bookstore websites.

One of this year’s hot Oscar tips is The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.  This epic movie is based upon a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald.  It is amazing how this short story has been turned into a two and half hour major movie, and I feel to a certain extent, some of the many messages in this intriguing and imaginative tale have been lost.

F. Scott Fitzgerald used beautiful descriptive language in his books and short stories and captured the Jazz Age Era of the 20s and 30s.  The Great Gatsby brilliantly described the excesses and obscene wealth of the pre-depression era.  Perhaps not so different from the 1990s era, for which we are now paying dearly.

Fitzgerald also reflected his turbulent relationship with his troubled wife, Zelda, in many of his short stories and novels.  She was particularly upset to discover that the leading character in his novel, Tender Is The Night, was clearly based upon her and her marital relationship.  Their wild excesses, drunken parties, and abusive and impetuous behavior became an embarrassment to their friends and associates, ultimately leading to Zelda’s mental breakdown.

Tales of The Jazz Age, which was Fitzgerald’s second collection of short stories, including the famous The Diamond As Big As the Ritz brought him further acclaim.  His second novel also published in the same year (1922) The Beautiful and the Damned was adapted to the screen with some success, but perhaps All The Sad Young Men contained the most insightful view of the troubled world that was to come with the Wall Street crash and the Great Depression.

Fitzgerald’s beautiful prose and illuminating descriptions were used in movie adaptations with some success, but it is a rare movie maker indeed that can transform the brilliance of the written word onto the Silver Screen.

As we approach the Oscar season, there are a spate of new movies, many of which are advertised as “based on a true story” or “based on the incredible true story.”

These movies have often come from original books or plays and have gradually morphed into a full-length Hollywood production.

Sometimes, historical events are given a movie treatment through a screenplay that, on many occasions, uses dramatization of “events” or at least poetic license.

Currently offerings include FrostNixen, based upon a real live TV interview thirty years ago of the disgraced former President, Richard Nixon, by David Frost, a well-known British talk show host and political commentator.

The movie has received generally good reviews, and both the producers and Sir David Frost have acknowledged that there has been some dramatization and injection of verbal exchanges, comments, and action which did not take place at the time.

While one has to recognize all of this is done to create a movie that is broader and more entertaining than perhaps the original event, we have discovered in this age of instant visual communication, that the audience is likely to regard this total offering as being 100% factual.

Similarly, another movie that is just hitting the major screens is Valkyrie.  Billed as based on the incredible true story, it does contain considerable accurate historical facts.  However, as pointed out in the reviews, the screenplay gives the impression that a large proportion of the German Officer Corps. was attempting or plotting to remove Adolph Hitler for many years before the failed attempt on his life, which is the basis of the movie.

It is of course recognized that dramatization of events creating tensions and excitement is absolutely necessary, but once again the audience may well think that the events shown on the screen are 100% factual.

Perhaps the marketers of today’s movies, might more accurately describe their offerings as “dramatization of events that did take place” or “broadly based on a true story.”

Over the Thanksgiving holiday, I read Mulberry Child, a Memoir of China by Jian Ping. Jian Ping is a former business colleague and friend, with whom I shared the writing experience, working on my novel at the same time as she was working on her Memoir.

Her creative talent and advice was of great assistance, and I hope that similarly I was able to give her the necessary support for her to finish her project.

Mulberry Child is the heart-wrenching true story of a childhood in Communist China. Jian Ping is the daughter of a high-ranking government official in the rural northeast of the country, growing up at a time of famine and political upheaval in the 1960s. Jian Ping’s innocent childhood comes to an abrupt end when the Cultural Revolution—a power struggle within the ruling party—engulfs the country like a wildfire.

Jian Ping’s father, Hou Kai, is falsely accused of treason—he is detained, beaten, and publicly shamed. Her mother Wenxiu, a top administrator of a middle school, is paraded in public and imprisoned by the Revolution Committee and the Red Guards—both driving forces of the Cultural Revolution. She is forbidden to see her children and pressured to divorce her husband. The family is pushed to a breaking point when they are forced to live in a mud house without heating, water, or a toilet. Facing abuse and deprivation, Jian Ping’s family stands steadfastly together, from her aging grandmother Nainai, a frail woman with bound feet, to her parents and siblings. The traumatic impact of their experiences shape the course of their lives forever.

Based on her own memories, as well as interviews and exhaustive research, Mulberry Child is a sprawling family saga and an inspiring tale of resilience and determination, a coming of age story told through the eyes of an innocent child.

Even though I had shared part of the writing process with Jian Ping and had thus read various excerpts as the book progressed, I was truly moved by this compelling story, written in such a delicate and graceful style.  I was also conscious about the timing of my reading this beautiful book.  A time for us to give thanks for the free democratic society in which I and my family have lived our lives.

Cover via Amazon

I’ve always enjoyed espionage spy novels.

I recently read two new offerings by a couple of my favorite authors.  THE SPIES OF WARSAW by Alan Furst, and A MOST WANTED MAN by John Le Carré.

THE SPIES OF WARSAW was particularly interesting for me since my own recently published espionage novel takes place in Poland, albeit in 1983 during the Cold War, but covers a lot of history and some of the period of the 1930s, where Furst’s novel takes place.  It is the fall of 1937, and the world is stumbling towards War.  Colonel Mercier, a former First World War officer in the French Army, is attached to the French Embassy in Warsaw, and is working diligently behind the scenes to avoid the conflict between Poland and Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany.  The premise of the story is interesting, and historical facts are woven in cleverly, but perhaps because we know the inevitable failure of the efforts, I found the story less than gripping.

Apart from Colonel Mercier, the other characters appear to play bit parts.  There is no back story, and we don’t get to know much about them.  Nevertheless, much to my surprise, the book got rave reviews in the New York Times, and of course hit the bestseller list.

John Le Carré has always been one of my favorite authors.  His intricate and complex stories coupled with his knowledge of espionage, justifiably earns him the reputation as the “spy master” novelist.  His most recent novel, A MOST WANTED MAN, tackles the up-to-date terrorist threat of a Chechnyian Muslim mysteriously and illegally arriving in Hamburg Germany, ostensibly to start a new career.  He seeks help from an idealistic young German lawyer who inevitably clashes with the authorities – police and counter-terrorism units.

As always with Le Carré, the characters are complex but interesting.  However to me, the story was less than exciting, the ending somewhat predictable, and the action slow.  Needless to say, however as with all Le Carré books, rave reviews and the bestseller lists were inevitable.

We can’t always expect our favorite authors to hit “home runs,” but it occurs to me that sequels, as in some of the movies, are often disappointing shadows of former successes.  Well-established popular novelists sometimes have to do very little, to achieve rave reviews and bestseller success.  It would be interesting to hear other views on this subject.