Thomas Mann considered his cosmology for the Biblical story of Joseph as his life's work. He conceived the four parts - The Stories of Jacob, Young Joseph, Joseph in Egypt, and Joseph the Provider - as a single narrative, a "mythological novel" about Joseph's fall into slavery and his rise as the lord of Egypt. With rich and convincing details, Mann conjures the world of patriarchs and pharaohs, the ancient cultures of Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Palestine, as well as the universal power of human love in all its beauty, despair, absurdity, and pain. The result is a brilliant blend of humor, emotion, psychological acuity, and epic grandeur. Now, award-winning translator John E. Woods offers us a definitive new English edition of Joseph and His Brothers, worthy of Mann's work, revealing the explosive polyphony of ancient and modern voices, a rich music that is alternately elegant, coarse, and reverent.