The Seven Sleepers of Ephesus
Featured in: Existenz, Vol. 8, No. 1, Spring 2013
The novella is based on a Medieval legend whose narrative source is found in Christian and Muslim religiuos texts. The legend and its evocation enacted by an Austrian woman and an American man combine Herbert mason's scholarly knowledge of Near Eastern literatures and his literary retellings on the ancient theme of protest against death. the author is best known for his Gilgamesh, A Verse Narrative, a finalist for the National Book Award, and his The Death of al-Hallaj. The latter was drawn from his Bollingen Series XCVIII translation of Louis Massignon's four volume The Passion of al-Hallaj. The novella extends his profound grasp of ancient myth into the drama of a contemporary spiritual love story and pilgrimage.