Download Old Testament Legends by M. R. James. A 1913 religion and spirituality non-fiction and fairy tales, myths, and fiction work about apocryphal and folkloric Biblical stories, Old Testament tradition, legend, moral imagination, religious storytelling and James's learned retellings for a general readership. Available in PDF, EPUB, MOBI and AZW3 formats.
About Old Testament Legends
Old Testament Legends by M. R. James is a 1913 religion and spirituality non-fiction and fairy tales, myths, and fiction work about apocryphal and folkloric Biblical stories, Old Testament tradition, legend, moral imagination, religious storytelling and James's learned retellings for a general readership. Ideal for readers interested in ghost stories, antiquarian fiction, medieval scholarship, manuscripts, folklore, religious legend, children's fantasy and James's subtle command of atmosphere.
Genres: Religion and Spirituality Non-fiction | Fairy Tales, Myths, and Fiction
Why Read Old Testament Legends?
Old Testament Legends is worth reading because it shows James bringing religious tradition, apocrypha and legend into readable form, with the authority of a scholar and the instincts of a storyteller. First published in 1913, the work is concerned with apocryphal and folkloric Biblical stories, Old Testament tradition, legend, moral imagination, religious storytelling and James's learned retellings for a general readership. James writes as someone trained to look closely at old books, places and objects, and that habit of attention gives both his fiction and non-fiction their special authority.
Readers may value the title for its calm surface and hidden pressure. In the ghost stories, a manuscript, whistle, print, curtain, church, room or scrap of learned evidence may become the opening through which something ancient and hostile returns. In the scholarly and legendary works, the same attention to written traces helps make old stories and surviving texts feel active rather than remote.
The book is also useful for understanding the range behind James's reputation. He was not only a master of supernatural fiction, but also a medievalist, editor, teacher and antiquarian whose scholarship shaped his imagination. Modern readers should approach period assumptions critically, especially where religion, class, gender, scholarship, empire or folklore appear. Even so, the work remains valuable because it shows how learning can become atmosphere.
This title adds to the larger M. R. James collection by showing another aspect of a writer who made the past feel dangerously close. Old Testament Legends can be read for ghost-story history, book history, religious legend, fantasy or prose craft, but it is especially rewarding because James makes curiosity itself dramatic. To read him is to feel that the object under examination may also be watching the examiner.
Other books you may like
| Book | Author |
|---|---|
| A Thin Ghost and Others | James M. R. M. R. James |
| The Wanderings and Homes of Manuscripts | James M. R. M. R. James |
| The Five Jars | James M. R. M. R. James |
| Ghost Stories of an Antiquary | James M. R. M. R. James |
