This review is part of the Literature World Tour.
My memory of the story of Samson is that of bible stories told in Sunday school - Samson, betrayed by Delilah, is chained up in the temple, and when his hair grows out again, he tears the temple down. Simple, clean, and the moral is DO NOT mess with the Man Above.
David Maine's Samson is slightly different. First off, I think his Samson is a paranoid schizophrenic with the voice of the LORD in his head giving him nasty ideas. Secondly, he's also a mass murderer / serial killer and an outright psychopath, ending the lives of anyone he thinks is in his or the LORD'S righteous way.
This treatment of a very well-known Bible story brings it bang up to date - it may not be for the evangelical praise-the-Lord-ers, but even they must acknowledge that the Old Testament God still had a bit of emotional distance to travel before becoming the compassionate, forgiving God / Jesus / Holy Spirit of the New Testament.
In the Book of Judges, where Samson's story is told, we are really only informed of Samson's actions, not his thoughts. This is where Maine steps in and lays bare Samson's 'internal monologue'. What is merely a tale of revenge becomes a story of a man who has psychiatric problems - possibly a pre-frontal cortex injury, too (issues of impulse control, but that's entirely my own speculation) - and a weakness for selfish women that ends in yet more destruction, his final relationship with Delilah (or Dalila, as Maine spells it) turning into his death warrant.
I can actually believe Maine's version of events, and getting to read the King James version also lends a touch of authenticity to the life and times in the ancient Middle East - but I'll never believe another word my Sunday school teacher says!
Next in the Middle East: RJI's review of The Bookseller of Kabul
Next stop on the Literature World Tour: India!
