Reading Esther: A Case for the Literary Carnivalesque (review)

168 SHOFAR Winter 1997 Vol. 15, No.2 Reading Esther: A Case for the literary Carnivalesque, by Kenneth Craig. literary Currents in Biblical Interpretation Series, eds. Danna N. Fewell and David M. Gunn. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1995. 192 pp. $15.99. Just as biblical archaeology has been greatly enhanced by its adoption of so-called secular types of analysis (e.g., geology, seed and pollen identification, carbon-14 dating, and demographic studies), so biblical criticism has been enhanced by its adoption of modern secular literary theories and analyses. A case in point is Craig's book where he applies to the Book of Esther a literary theory of the Russian comparatist, Mikhail Bakhtin (1895-1975), whose critical studies of the novel, especially his Rabelais andHis World, resulted in Bakhtin's "discovery" ofa new literary genre: literary carnivalesque. That the Book of Esther is unique among the books of the Hebrew Bible is a truism. God is not mentioned once; yet there are 190 references to the king or things "royal." Also absent are such central biblical concepts as the Law, prayer, sacrifice, and the Temple (in fact, fasting is the only religious practice mentioned). Abounding in irony and peripety (i.e., a sudden turnabout or reversal), the Book of Esther is also filled (as both Jewish and Christian critics have often pointed out) with deceit, vengeance, cruelty, and slaughter. At the same time, the book abounds in feasting and drinking, gift-giving, and joyous celebrations. Finally, the Hebrew text of Esther is unique in having two distinct Greek versions differing greatly not only from the MT but also from one another even when their six major Additions (totalling 107 verses!) are excluded from the discussion. In Craig's analysis of the Book of Esther, he also excluded any real consideration of .the Greek texts, although he is obviously aware of the scholarly discussions of them, including the now not uncommon view that either the Greek A-text or B-text may reflect not only a different but also a Semitic version of Esther antedating the MT. Aware of all thiS, Craig still maintains that such criticism is in no way damaging, inasmuch as it is the MT that has been so popular among Jews down through the ages. And it is, argues Craig, this carnivalesque origin of the Book of Esther that explains the many problems and objections relating to the book. When one considers Bakhtin's list ofthe typical features or ingredients of carnivals as celebrated over the ages-regardless of their times, place, religions, or racial and ethnic groups-then one is indeed struck by the appearance of most, if not all, of those elements in the Hebrew text of Esther. According to Bakhtin, Carnival includes such features as the Book Reviews 169 common people's response in laughter and ridicule of the "official" oppressive forces, be they in the form of the State, the "Church," or the wealthy and powerful. In Carnival there is collective and uninhibited gaiety, feasting and drinking to excess, cursing and abusing, laughter and ridicule, especially at the expense of the powers-that-be. In Carnival, the "unofficial" ridicule and laughter of the marketplace replace, or at least reduce, the official authority and dogma. Crisis, dying, and regenerating death are often motifs celebrated in carnivals. Carnivals also involve sharp, humorous contrasts: crownings and "uncrownings," feasting and banqueting, the wearing of costumes and masks, the reversal of gender roles, the antics of clowns, fools, and rogues. Anyone at all familiar with the Book ofEsther can find all of the above elements in the book, sometimes literally present and other times, figuratively. For instance, there are clownish aspects in Ahasuerus; Haman is both a rogue and a clever fool; the "mask" of Esther is her race and duplicity; Haman masks his true motives from the king. Queen Vashti is crowned and then "decrowned." Vashti disobeyed the king and was deposed while Esther disobeyed him by coming to him unannounced-and was rewarded! Time and time again in Esther, the reverse of what is expected occurs: a Jewish women becomes the Persian queen; Mordecai is honored by the very man who had built...