Galvanized by the erasure of female divinity, historical fiction author Nikki Marmery reimagines a character at the heart of ancient biblical mythology—the historically demonized Lilith. Her retelling is a powerful reminder that women have always been at the source of wisdom and a look at how society would benefit from gods of both sexes. Here, we talk to Marmery about her inspiration, the famous myths themselves, and what she hopes listeners will learn from Lilith.
Madeline Anthony: What is it about this particular myth, centered on the first woman who was ever expelled from Paradise for disobedience, that intrigued you so deeply?
Nikki Marmery: I have long been fascinated by the demise of female divinity in the belief systems of the Western world. A Great Mother or other form of female fertility goddess had been worshipped for thousands of years across Europe and Western Asia in the paleolithic and neolithic eras. A female Creator, after all, makes much more sense—the observable truth is that women bring life into the world. So how did we end up with the concept of God as a Father who creates life without a Mother?
Biblical Genesis provides some clues. The Garden of Eden’s snake, the fruit, and the tree are all associated with goddess worship in the ancient Levant and beyond. Wisdom was Her sphere. The natural world was Her domain. Could this ancient story about Woman, who commits the sin of reaching for Wisdom by eating the fruit of a special tree, encouraged by a serpentine mentor, be telling us something about the end of the former order? This is what I wanted to write about—and Lilith, the mythical First Woman, created equal to Adam before subservient Eve—seemed the perfect narrator.
Lilith, having been evicted from Eden, watches the events of Genesis and other biblical episodes unfold with horror. Having failed to save Eve, and cursed with immortality, she travels towards the present day with one intent—to be revenged on the Father who rejected her and restore the missing Mother. I wanted to subvert the misogynistic ideas at the heart of the myth—my Lilith is not demonic. I offer alternative explanations for the claims that she kills babies and seduces men in their sleep. Instead, she is dangerous because of what she represents—the threat to the unjust patriarchal order. My Lilith is the original woman who refuses to be subjugated. Powerful, dignified, and furious, she will have her revenge—however long it takes.
Who do you hope will listen to Lilith, and what lessons do you hope they might walk away with?
I wrote this book for women, like me, who feel profoundly insulted by the biblical creation myth, in which Man is made in the image of a male god, and Woman is made from Man to be his helpmeet. But I’d hope that anyone who reads it would reflect on how damaging the concept of exclusively male divinity has been for women in the real world for at least 2,500 years. Who gains from the idea of an all-powerful Father and the total erasure of the divine Mother?
I hope listeners will reflect on the immense power this creation myth has wielded, that in the Western world for much of the past two thousand years it was asserted as fact, not fiction, and used to justify male supremacy. I hope people see that many of the damaging notions about women that still exist in the modern world are present in this powerful myth—that women are foolish, gullible, tempters, and unfit to lead. I hope they might now think instead of my alternative fable, in which women are the source of Wisdom and where connection to the natural world is their strength.
Which fellow authors or retellings did you draw inspiration from while writing?
I love retellings and I’m particularly drawn to writers who, like me, are interested in the crossover between myth and religion. Robert Graves is always an inspiration. His knowledge of the ancient world, and his penetrating gaze into the hidden meanings of ancient myth, is unmatched. I adored Elizabeth Cook’s Lux, a beautifully told reimagining of the story of King David and Bathsheba. Anita Diamant’s The Red Tent, in the voice of biblical Dinah, is a masterclass in reimagining a patriarchal world from a woman’s point of view.
The section of my book where Lilith meets Maryam (Mary Magdalene), and we see Maryam’s past relationship with Yeshua (Jesus) through her eyes, was very challenging to write. I turned to Philip Pullman, Naomi Alderman, Jeet Thayil, and José Saramago for encouragement. They have all written complex, nuanced, brave, and thought-provoking books featuring a fictional Jesus.
