Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ, Complete and Unabridged

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The book was not an immediate success, but within two years it had gained momentum. The same morning President Garfield finished reading it, he wrote a thank-you note to Wallace, and within the month offered him the ambassadorship to Turkey. Ulysses S. Grant confessed he was so absorbed with the story, he read it for thirty hours straight. Fans from around the world wrote to Wallace, recounting their own conversions with Ben-Hur—this one became a missionary, that one claimed the book saved his life. Wallace became so closely linked with Ben-Hur that he no longer went by General, but was referred to as Lew Wallace, author of Ben-Hur. In newspaper articles and at speaking engagements, he was sometimes just called Ben-Hur. Wallace, An Autobiography, p. 930. Wallace's article "How I Came to Write Ben-Hur" appeared in the February 2, 1893, issue of The Youths Companion and was included as part of his autobiography.

Ben-Hur (1959 film) is an MGM sound film starring Charlton Heston; it premiered in New York City on November 18, 1959. [95] Messala is a Roman nobleman and the son of a Roman tax collector; [18] he is Judah's boyhood friend and rival. [19] a b Cobbett Steinberg (1980). Film Facts. New York: Facts on File. pp. 17 and 23. ISBN 0-87196-313-2.Ferraro, William M. (June 2008). "A Struggle for Respect: Lew Wallace's Relationships with Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman After Shiloh". Indiana Magazine of History. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University. 104 (2): 125–52 . Retrieved 2014-09-09. The Christian world would not tolerate a novel with Jesus Christ its hero, and I knew it ... He should not be present as an actor in any scene of my creation. The giving a cup of water to Ben-Hur at the well near Nazareth is the only violation of this rule ... I would be religiously careful that every word He uttered should be a literal quotation from one of His sainted biographers. [1] [34] The son of David Wallace, an Indiana governor and one-term U.S. congressman, Lew Wallace left school at 16 and became a copyist in the county clerk’s office, reading in his leisure time. After working briefly as a reporter for the Indianapolis Daily Journal, he began to study law in his father’s office. In 1846 Wallace recruited a company for the First Regiment of Indiana Volunteers, with whom he served in the Mexican-American War. His war experience consisted mostly of garrison duty. Wallace cited one inspiration for Ben-Hur, recounting his life-changing journey and talk with Colonel Robert G. Ingersoll, a well-known agnostic and public speaker, whom he met on a train when the two were bound for Indianapolis on September 19, 1876. Ingersoll invited Wallace to join him in his railroad compartment during the trip. The two men debated religious ideology, and Wallace left the discussion realizing how little he knew about Christianity. He became determined to do his own research to write about the history of Christ. [42] Wallace explained: "I was ashamed of myself, and make haste now to declare that the mortification of pride I then endured… ended in a resolution to study the whole matter, if only for the gratification there might be in having convictions of one kind or another." [1] [43] When Wallace decided to write a novel based on the life of Christ is not known for certain, but he had already written the manuscript for a magazine serial about the three magi at least two years before his discussions with Ingersoll. [44] [45] Researching and writing about Christianity helped Wallace become clear about his own ideas and beliefs. He developed the novel from his own exploration of the subject. [46]

Let the reader try to fancy it; let him first look down on the arena, and see it glistening in its frame of dull-gray granite walls; let him then, in this perfect field, see the chariots, light of wheel, very graceful, and ornate as paint and burnishing can make them ... let the reader see the accompanying shadows fly; and, with such distinctness as the picture comes, he may share the satisfaction and deeper pleasure of those to whom it was a thrilling fact, not a feeble fancy. [1] [55] Wallace's religious beliefs [ edit ] a b Roy Kinnard; Tim Davis (1992). Divine Images: A History of Jesus on the Screen. New York: Carol Publishing Group. p.29. ISBN 0-80651-284-9. Carole Carlson (June 3, 2014). "Gary to Close Lew Wallace, Five Other Schools". Post-Tribune. Gary, Indiana: Sun-Times Media, LLC. Archived from the original on October 25, 2014 . Retrieved August 24, 2014. Lewis Wallace, (born April 10, 1827, Brookville, Indiana, U.S.—died February 15, 1905, Crawfordsville, Indiana), American soldier, lawyer, diplomat, and author who is principally remembered for his historical novel Ben-Hur. Hart, James D. (1976). The Popular Book: A History of America's Literary Taste. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-8371-8694-3.

The Sheik Ilderim announces that he is looking for a chariot driver to race his team in the coming tournament. Judah, wanting revenge, offers to drive the sheik's chariot, as he intends to defeat Messala and humiliate him before the Roman Empire. Balthasar and his daughter Iras are sitting at a fountain in the stadium. Messala's chariot nearly hits them, but Judah intervenes. Balthasar thanks Ben-Hur and presents him with a gift. Judah heads to Sheik Ilderim's tent. The servant Malluch accompanies him, and they talk about the Christ; Malluch relates Balthasar's story of the magi. They realize that Judah saved the man who saw the Christ soon after his birth. Ben-Hur was also inspired in part by Wallace's love of romantic novels, including those written by Sir Walter Scott and Jane Porter, [6] and The Count of Monte Cristo (1846) by Alexandre Dumas, père. The Dumas novel was based on the memoirs of an early 19th-century French shoemaker who was unjustly imprisoned and spent the rest of his life seeking revenge. [47] Wallace could relate to the character's isolation of imprisonment. He explained in his autobiography that, while he was writing Ben-Hur, "the Count of Monte Cristo in his dungeon of stone was not more lost to the world." [48] At least eight translations of the book into Hebrew were made between 1959 and 1990. Some of these versions have involved wholesale restructuring of the narrative, including changes to character, dropping of Christian themes, and plot. [104]