Centripetal and Centrifugal Structures in Biblical Poetry (review)

Hebrew Studies 32 (1991) 104 Reviews REFERENCES Belsey, Calherine 1980 Criticol Practice. New York: Methuen. Freud, Sigmund 1948 "Die Vemeinung." Gesammelte Werke, Vol. 14. A. Freud, ed. London: Imago Publishing. pp. 11·IS. Girard, ReIIl! 1977 1986 1987a 1987b Lasine, Swan Violence and the Sacred. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University. The ScapegoDl. Baltimore: Johns Hop1cins University. Things Hidden since the Foundation ofthe World. SlaIlCord: Stanford University. "Genetative Scapegoating." Violent Origins: Walter Burkert. Renl Girard. and JOnalhan Z. Smith on RitUIJI Killing and Cultural Formation. R. G. Hamenon·Kelly, ed. Stanford: Stanford University. pp. 73·145. 1986 "Indelenninacy and the Bible: A Review ofLilCrary and Anthropological Theories and their Application to Biblical Texts." HS 27:48·80. 1988 "Bird's-eye and Wonn's-eye Views ofJustice in the Book ofJob."JSOT42:29·53. 1989 "Judjcial Narratives and the Ethics ofReading: The Reader as Judge of the Dispule Between Mephibosheth and Ziba." HS 30:49-69. 1991 "Job, Myth. and the Ethics of Reading Girard." A paper read at the meeting of the Colloquium on Violence and Religion. Stanford. CA, May 1991. Leach. E. R. 1970 Claude Uvi-Strauss. New York: Viking. Maranda,P. 1972 "The Semantics of Myth." Mythology: Selected Readings. P. Maranda, ed. Baltimore: Penguin. Pg. 213. Sontag, Susan 1970 "The Anthropologist as Hero." Claude Uvi·Strauss: The Anthropologist as Hero. E. N. and T. Hayes. cds. Cambridge, MA and London: M.I.T. pp. 184·196. Tallis, Raymond 1988 In Defense ofRealism. London: Edward Arnold. CENTRIPETAL AND CENTRIFUGAL STRUCTURES IN BffiLICAL POETRY. By Daniel Grossberg. SBL Monograph Series 39. pp. ix + 111. Atlanta: Scholars, 1989. Paper. Parallelism is of many kinds, but it is only one aspect of biblical poetry: the constitutive principle of couplets or of triplets, perhaps, but hardly the essence of an ancient Hebrew poem. A scriptural poem, in Grossberg's perspective , is not anyone thing but the equilibrium between the forces of Hebrew Studies 32 (1991) 105 Reviews image and idea that, if left to themselves, would reduce the poem to mere words or thoughtlessly tear it apart. These forces are evident in the centripetal and centrifugal structures that make up the artistry of the Psalms of Ascents, the Song of Songs, and Lamentations. The introduction (pp. 1-14) situates the theory among a select group of studies that deal with parallel lines (Kugel, Berlin) or with the movement and form of whole poems (Alter, Fisch) and outlines the theory in a list of centripetal and centrifugal features. The first chapter is on the Psalms of Ascents (Pss 120-134) as a whole (pp. 15-21 and 48-54) and as a collection of memorable self-contained pieces (pp. 21-48) which together illustrate the tug between centripetal and centrifugal forces. The second chapter, on the Song of Songs (pp. 55-81), delves into the structural features that allow the poem to elude logical analysis and drive it to the centrifugal end of the poetic continuum. The last chapter (pp. 83-104) situates the book of Lamentations, with its thematic simplicity, consistent meter, rigid structure, and historical focus, on the centripetal side of the same continuum. The conclusion (p. 105) states that whole poems consist in the artistic tension of their parts, conceived not as word-pairs or poetic lines, but as the structural features of sentences and supra-sentence compositions. The book is written to conform to the principles it exposes. On the centripetal side is the structure of the book and some of its parts as well as a constant repetition of the thesis. On the other side is the author's eccentric appreciation of poetry, the incongruence of the three pieces he analyzes, and random choices in such matters as which individual psalms are studied, which literary features are noted (especially in the case of the Song of Songs), and which bibliography and scholarly tradition is addressed. Centripetally, the book has a beginning and a resumptive end. The chapter on the Psalms begins with the collection, deals with individual psalms, and ends with the collection. The chapter on Lamentations begins with a summary of its contents and ends with a discussion of the centripetal closural devices that end the book. The most...