Lazarus - by Diane Glancy (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

This hybrid biography of the enigmatic historical figure extends narrative convention to consider the story behind his silent life and what we may draw from it.

Lazarus, the odd ball. The odd man out. With his sisters as buoys. Who was he?-- The man whom Jesus called back to life. What did he think of death?-- Lazarus, the recessive. Lazarus, who survived a time of persecution by the Pharisees and the Roman government. Lazarus, who went about his business in his father's house. A father with whom he had clashed. And managed in a withdrawn manner to steer his ship across waters Jesus could walk upon, and Lazarus could only sink into. Lazarus, who was disappointed not to be chosen as one of the disciples. Yet he prevailed in his own off-chute way as he walked awkwardly in Bethany, just two miles from Jerusalem.

Diane Glancy's Lazarus is conjecture of what this troubled figure could have said, thought, and written. It is biography interrupted by first-person fragments from his sisters, Mary and Martha, along with the meta-nonfiction of the author's travels, statements, and intentions.

Lazarus was a modern man who had purpose and substance yet found himself ineffectual to some extent. Lazarus the book looks at the difficulty of living a responsible life.

Review Quotes

Praise for Diane Glancy

"Glancy is a treasure." --American Book Review

"Stunning....A graphic and compelling mosaic..." --Library Journal, starred review

"A moving testament to the creative act of enduring." --Foreword Reviews, starred review

"What bounty to have Glancy's great art erupt once more." --Spencer Reece

About the Author

Diane Glancy is professor emerita at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, where she taught creative writing and Native American literature. Currently she teaches creative nonfiction in the MFA low-residency program at Carlow University. Among her works are Pushing the Bear: A Novel of the Trail of Tears and Stone Heart: A Novel of Sacajawea. Glancy has won multiple honors and awards for her work, including the Five Civilized Tribes Playwriting Laureate Prize and the Pablo Neruda Prize for Poetry, as well as being awarded grants from, among others, the National Endowment for the Arts.