Pen of Iron: American Prose and the King James Bible Hardcover - 2010

From the rear cover

"Alter's remarkable book breathes new life into a long-neglected topic, the study of style. With the finesse that is his trademark, Alter shows the importance of all that is lost in translation. As it delineates the surprising ways in which the King James Bible has shaped American prose, Pen of Iron redirects current literary criticism and theory."--Gary Saul Morson, author of "Anna Karenina" in Our Time

"In this subtle and impressive work, Robert Alter shows us in great, attentive detail what style is, demonstrating the work of language on every page and revealing the extraordinary things that American writers have done with the language of the King James Bible."--Michael Wood, author of Literature and the Taste of Knowledge

"This is a deft, spare, and deeply learned appraisal of the animating and abiding presence of the King James Bible in the language of the American novel, from the nineteenth century to today. If, as Robert Alter says, 'style is ultimately a mode of thinking, ' Alter's own style shows a mode of thought that at once discerns, explicates, and registers in compressed, elegant formulations what is most distinctive about the works he examines."--Tracy Fessenden, author of Culture and Redemption: Religion, the Secular, and American Literature

Media reviews

Citations

• Books & Culture, 05/01/2010, Page 8
• Christian Century, 11/30/2010, Page 41
• New York Review of Books, 02/09/2012, Page 40
• Publishers Weekly, 03/08/2010, Page 51