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“Scholars have long noted that the prose narratives of the Hebrew Bible present us with something decisively new and unprecedented in ancient literature. Long before Herodotus and even Homer, Israelite writers practiced a conspicuously innovative narrative art, anticipating in striking ways the modern novelist’s cra. In spite of the undeniable linguistic tradition that runs from biblical literature back to its closest known antecedent, the Ugaritic narrative poems, there are substantive differences between the two corpora, raising important questions. Why does biblical narrative seem so new, so different in antiquity? What factors in ancient Israel contributed to this artistic achievement?” —from the Introduction http://iupress.indiana.edu 1–800–842–6796 Biblical Narrative and the Death of the Rhapsode ROBERT S. KAWASHIMA Biblical Narrative and the Death of the Rhapsode ROBERT S. KAWASHIMA Informed by literary theory and Homeric scholarship as well as biblical studies, Biblical Narrative and the Death of the Rhapsode sheds new light on the Hebrew Bible and, more generally , on the possibilities of narrative form. Robert S. Kawashima compares the narratives of the Hebrew Bible with Homeric and Ugaritic epic in order to account for the “novelty” of biblical prose narrative. Long before Herodotus or Homer, Israelite writers practiced an innovative narrative art, which anticipated the modern novelist’s cra. ough their work is undeniably linked to the linguistic tradition of the Ugaritic narrative poems, there are substantive differences between the bodies of work. Kawashima views biblical narrative as the result of a specically written verbal art that we should counterpose to the oral-traditional art of epic. Beyond this strictly historical thesis, the study has theoretical implications for the study of narrative, literature, and oral tradition. R S. K was awarded the doctorate in comparative literature from the University of California, Berkeley, where he also taught for two years as Faculty Fellow. He is currently Dorot Assistant Professor/Faculty Fellow in the Skirball Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies at New York University. Published with the generous support of the Koret Foundation. INDIANA STUDIES IN BIBLICAL LITERATURE Herbert Marks, General Editor C ONTENT S Acknowledgments Abbreviations 1 Introduction: e Novelty of Biblical Narrative 2 From Song to Story: e Genesis of Narrative in Judges 4 and 5 3 Narration and Discourse: e Linguistic Dualism of Biblical Narrative and Its Literary Consequences 4 Represented Consciousness in Biblical Narrative 5 Biblical Time and Epic Time: From Grammar to Narrative Technique 6 e Art of Biblical Narrative as Technique: Making Strange the Tradition 7 Conclusion: Toward an Archaeology of Ancient Israelite Knowledge Notes Bibliography Index Jacket Illustration: A Jewish scribe, from Rothschild Miscellany (MS. 24, fol. 418v). Collection, e Israel Museum, Jerusalem (180/51). Photo © e Israel Museum, Jerusalem. KAWASHIMA Biblical Narrative and the Death of the Rhapsode I N DIA NA ST U DI E S I N B I B L IC A L L I T E R AT U R E INDIANA University Press Bloomington & Indianapolis INDIANA Biblical Narrative and the Death of the Rhapsode [3.215.77.96] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 05:41 GMT) Indiana Studies in Biblical Literature Herbert Marks, general editor ...