Stephen Mitchell
Stephen Mitchell was educated at Amherst College, the Sorbonne, and Yale University, and de-educated through intensive Zen practice. He is widely known for his ability to make old classics thrillingly new, to step in where many have tried before and to create versions that are definitive for our time. His many books include The Gospel According to Jesus, The Second Book of the Tao, two books of fiction, and a book of poetry. Mitchell’s Selected Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke has been called “the most beautiful group of poetic translations [the twentieth] century has produced.” William Arrowsmith said that his Sonnets to Orpheus “instantly makes every other rendering obsolete.” His Book of Job has been called “magnificent.” His bestselling Tao Te Ching, Bhagavad Gita, and Gilgamesh—which are not translations from the original text, but rather poetic interpretations that use existing translations into Western languages as their starting point—have also been highly praised by critics, scholars, and common readers. Gilgamesh was Editor’s Choice of The New York Times Book Review, was selected as the Book Sense 2004 Highlight for Poetry, was a finalist for the first annual Quill Award in poetry. His translation of the Iliad was chosen as one of the New Yorker’s favorite books of 2011. He is a two-time winner of the Harold Morton Landon Translation Award from the Academy of American Poets. His books for young readers include The Wishing Bone, winner of the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award as the best book of poetry for children published in the United States in 2003, and Jesus: What He Really Said and Did, which was chosen by the American Library Association’s Booklist as one of the top ten religious books for children in 2002. He is also coauthor of two of his wife Byron Katie’s bestselling books: Loving What Is and A Thousand Names for Joy. www.thework.com You can read extensive excerpts from all his books on his website, www.stephenmitchellbooks.com.
24 Books Written
"A twenty-first-century form of ancient wisdom . . . Mitchell's flights, his paradoxes, his wonderful riffs are brilliant and liberating." -Pico IyerThe most widely translated book in world literature after the Bible, Lao-tzu's Tao Te Ching , or Book of the Way , is the classic manual on the art of living. Following the phenomenal success of his own version of the Tao Te Ching , renowned scholar and translator Stephen Mitchell has composed the innovative The Second Book of the Tao . Drawn from the work of Lao-tzu's disciple Chuang- tzu and Confucius's grandson Tzu-ssu, The Second Book of the Tao collects the freshest, most profound teachings from these two great students of the Tao to offer Western readers a path into reality that has nothing to do with east or west, but everything to do with truth. With his own illuminating commentary alongside each adaptation, at once explicating and complementing the text, Mitchell makes the ancient teachings at once modern, relevant, and timeless.Listen to a special podcast with Stephen
As it examines the real man behind the New Testament image of Jesus, this book presents an immensely provocative and attractive portrait of Jesus as a real person and a great spiritual teacher--an image acceptable to readers of any religion or of no religion. Mitchell is the acclaimed author of Parables and Portraits and has translated the Tao Te Ching and The Book of Job.
"I love The First Christmas. What a charming way Stephen Mitchell has found to tell my favorite story of all, the Nativity, character by character (I love the donkey and the ox), with wise and thrilling interludes about God, reality, truth." -Anne LamottIn The First Christmas, Stephen Mitchell brings the Nativity story to vivid life as never before. A narrative that is only sketched out in two Gospels becomes fully realized here with nuanced characters and a setting that reflects the culture of the time. Mitchell has suffused the birth of Jesus with a sense of beauty that will delight and astonish readers.In this version, we see the world through the eyes of a Whitmanesque ox and a visionary donkey, starry-eyed shepherds and Zen-like wise men, each of them providing a unique perspective on a scene that is, in Western culture, the central symbol for good tidings of great joy. Rather than superimposing later Christian concepts onto the Annunciation and Nativity scenes, he imagines Mary and Joseph experiencing the angelic message as a young Jewish woman and man living in the year 4 bce might have experienced it, with terror, dismay, and ultimate acceptance. In this context, their yes becomes an act of great moral courage.Readers of every background will be enchanted by this startlingly beautiful reimagining of the Christmas tale.
"A unique and special kind of masterpiece." --John BanvilleStephen Mitchell's gift is to breathe new life into ancient classics. In Joseph and the Way of Forgiveness, he offers us his riveting novelistic version of the Biblical tale in which Jacob's favorite son is sold into slavery and eventually becomes viceroy of Egypt. Tolstoy called it the most beautiful story in the world. What's new here is the lyrical, witty, vivid prose, informed by a wisdom that brings fresh insight to this foundational legend of betrayal and all-embracing forgiveness. Mitchell's retelling, which reads like a postmodern novel, interweaves the narrative with brief meditations that, with their Zen surprises, expand the narrative and illuminate its main themes.By stepping inside the minds of Joseph and the other characters, Mitchell reanimates one of the central stories of Western culture. The engrossing tale that he has created will capture the hearts and minds of modern readers and show them that this ancient story can still challenge, delight, and astonish.
In this brilliant jewel of a book, the best-selling author of Tao Te A New English Version expands and deepens the classic fairy tale in the most surprising and delightful ways, giving new emphasis to its message of the transcendent power of love.The Frog Prince tells the story of a meditative frog's love for a rebellious princess, how she came to love him in spite of herself, and how her refusal to compromise helped him become who he truly was. This is a magical book that moves (amphibiously) from story to meditation and back, from the outrageous to the philosophical to the silly to the sublime. Profound, touching, written in prose as lively and unpredictable as a dream, The Frog Prince tickles the mind, opens the heart, and holds up a mirror to the soul.
From the author of The Gospel According to Jesus comes a new adaptation of the psalms. Leading biblical scholar and translator Stephen Mitchell translates fifty of the most powerful and popular bible psalms to create poems that recreate the music of the original Hebrew verse.
When the archangel Gabriel appears to a narrator who has written a bestselling book called Against Angels , our whole view of the world is turned on its head. What is the nature of bliss? What games do angels play? What is angelic sex like? Gabriel gives an intensely erotic and moving demonstration of this, leaving us, as he leaves the narrator, breathless. Later, he takes us on a guided tour of the heavens and introduces us to, among other spirits, William Blake. The three chapters of dialogues between Gabriel and the narrator--surprising, poetic, instructive, funny, and improbably real--may be as fascinating to those who can't stand angels as to those who are enchanted with them.
Matt Tavares’s luminous illustrations and Stephen Mitchell’s wry text transform this classic Grimms’ fairy tale into a splendid edition to treasure."Deep in a forsaken wood, a wild man keeps watch over a golden spring."Iron Hans is nine feet tall and as brown as rust, with hair to his knees. He is cursed, a terror to all, until a young prince finds the courage to befriend him. But when the boy betrays Iron Hans’s trust, he must make his way in the world alone, penniless and unknown — save for a little help from a certain forgiving wild man. Stephen Mitchell’s deft retelling and Matt Tavares’s elegant illustrations gracefully render this timeless Grimms’ tale about pride and humility, wealth and poverty, and the importance of doing good, whether servant or prince, wild man or king.
The best-selling author of The Gospel According to Jesus presents an account of the life of Jesus, aimed at teenagers and using what the author considers to be the most authentic sources.
Amusingly absurd and playfully profound, this delightfully illustrated volume of original poems is sure to tickle the fancy of children and adults alike.It happened on a winter’s day(The air was cold, the sky was gray):Out walking in the woods alone,I came upon a wishing bone.What would you do if everything you wished came true? How does a white rhinoceros take his tea? Where can you find the elusive purple tiger? Who wanders in the whiffle bog on a bilgy, bulgy night? Resonating with childlike questions, the fanciful poems in THE WISHING BONE invite readers to think and to dream. Full of illustrations as fresh and whimsical as the verse, here is a collection to read aloud and savor for its sheer verbal and visual exuberance.
A revised edition of the first book of poems by Stephen Mitchell, the renowned translator of Rilke's poetry, The Book of Job, and the Tao Te Ching. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Genies, Meanies, and Magic Rings: Three Tales from the Arabian Nights
by Stephen Mitchell
Rating: 3.6 ⭐
Master storyteller Stephen Mitchell brings three of the best loved stories from The Arabian Nights to independent young readers ready for adventure. All richly illustrated with lustrous line drawings throughout, they are here for young readers to Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves , Abu Keer and Abu Seer , and Aladdin and the Magic Lamp in its original setting of China. These stories will bring you to a whole new world; one where clever wit will save the day, thieves give chase with swords and spears, kings can kill with a glance, honesty is rewarded with a vast, unheard-of treasure.
A renowned writer and translator presents an anthology of essential quotations from the masters of spiritual wisdom.The most powerful messages are the simplest ones. With that in mind, Stephen Mitchell has selected one hundred illuminating sayings from the great Eastern and Western literary and spiritual traditions. Ranging in length from one sentence to a dozen lines, the brief passages in The Essence of Wisdom convey the life-transforming insights of the Buddha, Lao-tzu, Heraclitus, the Zen and Sufi masters, Spinoza, Blake, Emerson, Rilke, and other sages.The book is arranged to follow the course of the inner life from its beginning to the fullest embodiment of wisdom. Each quotation stands alone on the page. Each is a meditation in itself, meant not only to be read, but to be absorbed and reflected upon. This remarkable book gathers the words of the world's deepest thinkers and spiritual teachers, and speaks to us in the clear voice of enlightenment.From the Hardcover edition.
Gilgamesh is considered one of the masterpieces of world literature, and although previously there have been competent scholarly translations of it, until now there has not been a version that is a superlative literary text in its own right. Acclaimed translator Stephen Mitchell's lithe, muscular rendering allows us to enter an ancient masterpiece as if for the first time, to see how startlingly beautiful, intelligent, and alive it is. His insightful introduction provides a historical, spiritual, and cultural context for this ancient epic, showing that Gilgamesh is more potent and fascinating than ever.Gilgamesh dates from as early as 1700 BCE -- a thousand years before the Iliad. Lost for almost two millennia, the eleven clay tablets on which the epic was inscribed were discovered in 1853 in the ruins of Nineveh, and the text was not deciphered and fully translated until the end of the century. When the great poet Rainer Maria Rilke first read Gilgamesh in 1916, he was awestruck. "Gilgamesh is stupendous," he wrote. "I consider it to be among the greatest things that can happen to a person."The epic is the story of literature's first hero -- the king of Uruk in what is present-day Iraq -- and his journey of self-discovery. Along the way, Gilgamesh discovers that friendship can bring peace to a whole city, that a preemptive attack on a monster can have dire consequences, and that wisdom can be found only when the quest for it is abandoned.
Beowulf qui a inspiré à J.R.R. Tolkien sa célèbre trilogie du Seigneur des Anneaux est l’une des plus grandes épopées nordiques. Son héros terrasse monstres et dragons pour protéger son peuple et personnalise les valeurs universelles de courage, d’honnêteté et de sagesse. Stephen Mitchell restitue les vers de ce poème dans une langue moderne et puissante dans cette édition reliée de luxe.Beowulf est l’une des plus grandes épopées nordiques. Écrit à la fin du premier millénaire en vieil anglais, ce chef-d’œuvre de la littérature médiévale européenne chante les faits d’arme du guerrier scandinave qui vole à la rescousse du peuple danois, tourmenté par l’ogre Grendel et sa monstrueuse mère. Le héros triomphe des deux créatures, mais après cinquante ans d’un règne sage et paisible, un dernier adversaire, le terrible dragon serpent, se dresse sur son chemin semé de gloire…Stephen Mitchell, avec son talent habituel, restitue les vers de ce poème épique dans une langue moderne, puissante et enivrante.Parce qu’elle transcende les époques et nous livre des vérités spirituelles impérissables, cette épopée anglo-saxonne qui inspira à Tolkien son célèbre Seigneur des anneaux mérite d’être (re)découverte dans cette édition reliée de luxe.
Paintings depict the creation of the world as recounted in Genesis
A sweeping historical account of the Later Roman Empire incorporating the latest scholarly researchIn the newly revised 3rd edition of A History of the Later Roman Empire, 284-700, distinguished historians Geoffrey Greatrex and Stephen Mitchell deliver a thoroughly up-to-date discussion of the Later Roman Empire. It includes tables of information, numerous illustrations, maps, and chronological overviews. As the only single volume covering Late Antiquity and the early Islamic period, the book is designed as a comprehensive historical handbook covering the entire span between the Roman Empire to the Islamic conquests.The third edition is a significant expansion of the second edition—published in 2015—and includes two new chapters covering the seventh century. The rest of the work has been updated and revised, providing readers with a sweeping historical survey of the struggles, triumphs, and disasters of the Roman Empire, from the accession of the emperor Diocletian in AD 284 to the closing years of the seventh century. It also A thorough description of the massive political and military transformations in Rome’s western and eastern empires Comprehensive explorations of the latest research on the Later Roman Empire Practical discussions of the tumultuous period ushered in by the Arab conquests Extensive updates, revisions, and corrections of the second editionPerfect for undergraduate and postgraduate students of ancient, medieval, early European, and Near Eastern history, A History of the Later Roman Empire, 284-700 will also benefit lay readers with an interest in the relevant historical period and students taking a survey course involving the late Roman Empire.
