All Beginnings Are Hard.

Every Man Who Has Shown The World The Way To Beauty, To True Culture, Has Been A Rebel, A 'universal' Without Patriotism, Without Home, Who Has Found His People Everywhere.

I'm Not Altogether Certain That A Fundamentalism Of Necessity Has To Argue That It Is The Only Reading Of The Human Experience In Order To Stay Alive.

My Name Is Asher Lev... I Am A Traitor, An Apostate, A Self-hater, An Inflicter Of Shame Upon My Family, My Friends, My People; Also, I Am A Mocker Of Ideas Sacred To Christians, A Blasphemous Manipulator Of Modes And Forms Revered By Gentiles For Two Thousand Years.

A Life Is Measured By How It Is Lived For The Sake Of Heaven.

A Book Is Sent Out Into The World, And There Is No Way Of Fully Anticipating The Responses It Will Elicit. Consider The Responses Called Forth By The Bible, Homer, Shakespeare - Let Alone Contemporary Poetry Or A Modern Novel.