Narrative Obtrusion in the Hebrew Bible

4. Reader Response, Narrator Foresight, and Foreclosure

4 Reader Response, Narrator Foresight, and Foreclosure Reader response criticism focuses on the conversation between the text and the reader. The voice of the narrator is often overshadowed by this exchange, particularly in the case of the generally quiet, nonintrusive biblical narrator. Even in their discussions of the narrator, scholars do not always consider the fact that the narrator acts as a reader of the text being composed or redacted. As the initial reader of a text, the narrator foresees some of the questions that may arise from textual gaps or inquisitive readers. The narrator employs literary strategies based on the type of reader envisioned. If the narrator anticipates a knowledgeable reader, a gap may be left in the narrative. If the narrator perceives that a creative or theologically presumptuous reader will come to an undesired response, the narrator will obtrude.1 The narrator steers readers through both gaps and obtrusions. The strategic narrator relies on the reader’s anticipated responses to gaps and ambiguity in order to manipulate the reader into reaching a particular conclusion. The obtrusive narrator overtly enters the text, manipulating the reader into accepting the interpretation spelled out by the narrator. The biblical narrator allows the reader to have some freedom in the interpretation of the text, relying on the reader to create meaning by logically filling in gaps; however, the narrator occasionally exerts greater control over the reader, behaving obtrusively in order to limit the reader’s power. By anticipating reader questions and responses, the narrator blocks undesired interpretations with obtrusions. This chapter explores the calculating nature of the narrator by examining areas where the narrator relies on the reader’s knowledge and desire for 1. Keith Bodner discusses the creative reader in “Is Joab a Reader-Response Critic?” JSOT 27 (2002): 19–35. Robert Alter discusses the theologically presumptuous interpreter in The David Story: A Translation with Commentary of 1 and 2 Samuel (New York and London: W. W. Norton, 1999), 147. 101 coherence as well as areas where the narrator worries about the reader’s presumptuousness and subverts the reader’s inclinations. This chapter further reveals the shrewdness of the narrator by introducing a new type of obtrusion. A non–break-frame obtrusion occurs when the narrator waits for a natural interruption of the plot, such as a cessation of action, and places an obtrusion outside of the frame. Through an examination of selected break-frame and non–break-frame obtrusions in the Deuteronomistic History, I contrast the occasions where the narrator depends on the knowledgeable reader to fill in gaps with those instances where the narrator controls the theologically presumptuous reader with obtrusions. The narrator’s relationship with the reader can be seen in Joshua, Judges, and the narratives of David’s life. In the book of Joshua, the narrator relies on the reader’s desire for coherence to limit the force of the potential contradictions in the book. In many instances in Joshua, the narrator envisions a knowledgeable reader and obtrudes to provide explanations to this reader’s questions. I explore these obtrusions by examining the conversations that occur between the text, the reader, and the narrator. In the book of Judges, I consider the challenges faced by the narrators as readers of the Israelite entry into the promised land. I examine their wrestlings with the situation and the various explanations they offer. Next, I highlight two potential non–break-frame obtrusions in Judges 9. Focusing the remainder of my attention on the broader Davidic narratives, I analyze David’s dual role as a reader and narrator of his own story. I discuss the way David acquires knowledge as a reader and then acts as a narrator who manipulates the story for his own benefit. Other skillful readers and narrators such as Abigail and Joab guard themselves against David’s interpretations. At the end of this section, I consider the ways in which David attempts to rewrite the narrative of his affair with Bathsheba, only to fall prey to the gap that the prophet Nathan creates in his parable. A brief review of scholarship on the framing of biblical texts creates the necessary foundation for these discussions because narrative structure assists the narrator in controlling the reader. Building a Framework As the governing force of narrative, a framework consists of several essential parts, including action sequences, plot, time, and so on. The field of poetics studies these “building blocks of literature and the rules by which they are assembled.”2 An...