Our Fathers' Wells: A Personal Encounter with the Myths of Genesis

This is the quest of a poet and therapist who wrestles with the myths of Genesis in order to understand himself, his Jewish heritage and the dilemmas of manhood in the 20th century. The Genesis stories, Pitzele writes, are ``slippery, quick, powerful, alien, intense, unremitting. They grip me, and I grapple with them.'' To reclaim the myths, Pitzele explores the tiniest crevices in the biblical legends by using the techniques of psychodrama, thereby freeing the patriarchs from their traditional roles. Suddenly they live for us; their poignant, passionate voices jump off the pages. They speak of loneliness and sexuality, fatherhood and brotherhood, rejection and insecurity, faith and legacy, struggle and dream. What is most dramatic about Pitzele's interpretation, however, is its personal focus. He risks sharing the tragedies and soaring spiritual moments of his own inner life when they parallel the biblical narrative. Nor is his the perspective of an insider who grew up with the Bible. Rather, it is the vision of one for whom, in youth, the question ``Are you a Jew?'' fell ``like water on an impervious rock'' and who only later found wisdom in the ageless stories of Genesis. (Apr.)