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King Jesus
  • Published: 18 May 2012
  • ISBN: 9780141197654
  • Imprint: Penguin Classics
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 368
  • RRP: $32.99

King Jesus




A nuanced and delicate retelling of the Gospels, new to Penguin Modern Classics

Robert Graves's controversial historical novel is a bold reworking of the story of Christ. Here Jesus is not the son of God, but the result of a secret marriage - the descendant of Herod and true King of the Jews. Written from the perspective of a lowly official at the end of the first century AD, King Jesus recounts Jesus's birth, youth, life as a charismatic 'wonder worker' and the unorthodox, bitter nature of his death and resurrection. Portraying Jesus not as divine but as a flawed human bent upon his own doom, this retelling of the gospels is a compelling blend of research, imagination and narrative power.

  • Published: 18 May 2012
  • ISBN: 9780141197654
  • Imprint: Penguin Classics
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 368
  • RRP: $32.99

About the author

Robert Graves

ROBERT GRAVES (1895–1985) was a preeminent English poet, novelist, critic, translator, and scholar of classical mythology. He served in World War I—an experience recounted in his 1929 autobiography, Good-Bye to All That —and later became the first professor of English literature at the University of Cairo. Best remembered today for his acclaimed historical novels about the Roman emperor Claudius, I, Claudius and Claudius the God, his other books include Count Belisarius, Lawrence and the Arabs, They Hanged My Saintly Billy, Homer's Daughter, The Golden Fleece, The Siege and Fall of Troy, Ann at Highwood Hall, The White Goddess, The Hebrew Myths, and Collected Poems. He is also the co-author of The Reader Over Your Shoulder: A Handbook for Writers of English Prose.

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Praise for King Jesus

The knowledge of a scholar and the imagination of a poet are brought to bear upon Jesus as a child, boy and man

Guardian

Written with simplicity and reverence

Time