A finished work of art - 2 May 2009 |
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More on Robert Alter’s The Art of Biblical Narrative:
Chapter 4, ‘Between Narration and Dialogue’ explores how the biblical writers do their business ‘when the narrative tempo slows down enough for us to discriminate a particular scene’ (p. 63). In contrast to ‘Greek epics and romances and … much later Western literature’ (p. 64), the Hebrew writers make extensive use of direct speech. Just read some Austen, then read 1 Samuel 21. Weird.
Chapter 5, ‘The Techniques of Repetition’, explores an oft-cited feature of the Bible, whose presence is generally obvious, but whose significance is often missed.
Chapter 6, ‘Characterization and the Art of Reticence’ shows how the Bible manages to say so much by saying so little.
Chapter 7, ‘Composite Artistry’, explores the conundrums arising from apparent or alleged ‘internal contradictions’ (p. 135) in the biblical narrative. Alter is less pessimistic than most scholars about the number of such ‘insoluble cruxes’ (p. 133) in Scripture. Personally, I’m less pessimistic still – I don’t think anything in the Bible is ‘insoluble’ in principle, though I readily grant that there are plenty of things that are ‘hard to understand’ (2 Peter 3:16). Credit to Alter for at least throwing a spanner in the works of liberal OT scholarship; shame he didn’t go all the way.
Chapter 8, ‘Narration and Knowledge’, explains how and why the biblical narrator keeps us in the dark about something he knows, or tells us something the characters in the story don’t know, or plays some other trick on us. Shame he keeps banging on about ‘fiction’. Sigh.
Interesting, though. For example, at what point in the story of Ehud are we supposed to realise that Eglon is going to meet a messy end (Judges 3:12-30)? Dunno, but we certainly find out before the King’s attendants – much to their embarrassment, and our amusement (vv. 24-25). Again, why don’t we discover that Adam was standing right next to Eve until after the conversation with the serpent had finished (Gen 3:6)? And so on.
Finally, Alter devotes an entire chapter (9, ‘Conclusion’) to helping the man in the street work out how to make practical use of the book in reading and understanding Scripture. Now there’s a rare thought.
Posted by Steve Jeffery · Topics: Books, Minister's Blog, The Art of Biblical Narrative