title: Pen of Iron: American Prose and the King James Bible
author:  Robert Alter 
description: Starred Review. Among the many English translations of the Bible, a single one is responsible for the shape of some of the most iconic works of American literature, argues Alter, a comparative literature professor at University of California, Berkeley. Focusing not on the application of specific content but rather on the more elusive matter of style, Alter, author of more than 20 books, shows how the King James Version (especially its Old Testament) informed the work of Melville, Faulkner, Hemingway, Bellow, Marilynne Robinson, and Cormac McCarthy. Alter's knowledge of Hebrew and its translation in the KJV combined with his sensitivity to the sound and form of the distinctly American <i>Moby-Dick</i>, <i>Absalom, Absalom!</i> and <i>The Road</i>, among others, yield rich insights. By his own admission, Alter may be accused of occasionally overreaching associations. However, even if readers are unconvinced by some of the author's claims, they will find in this book a compelling case for style. Alter masterfully demonstrates how style itself affects and even conveys the meaning and power of great literature. <i>(Apr.)</i> <br />Copyright  Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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  ## More praise for Robert Alter’s
  
  
  
  
  
  The Five Books of Moses
  
  
  
  
  
  “[An] astonishing translation. Out of Mr. Alter’s close reading and
  translation, something grander really does take shape, along with a conviction
  that the Bible is not just incidentally mysterious, posing challenges because
  of its antique references and sources. It is essentially mysterious.”
  
  
  
  
  
  —Edward Rothstein, New York Times
  
  
  
  
  
  “[A] remarkable new translation of the Pentateuch, a monument of scholarship….
  The result greatly refreshes, sometimes productively estranges, words that may
  now be too familiar to those who grew up with the King James Bible…. Alter’s
  translation brings delight because it follows the precepts of the committee of
  King James, but is founded on a greatly deeper conversance with Hebrew than
  the great 17th-century scholars could summon. And Alter…brings to his own
  English a scholarly comprehension of the capacities of literary
  usage.…Especially fine is the way A