Biblical Narrative and the Death of the Rhapsode

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

ix ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This book originated in my encounter with Ann Ban¤eld’s groundbreaking work Unspeakable Sentences. In this remarkable study she characterized the language of the novel in terms of two syntactic features: the narrative preterite (passé simple) and the representation of consciousness (style indirect libre), neither of which appears in the spoken language. She also raised the historical thesis, ¤rst proposed by Walter Benjamin and others, linking the rise of the novel to the decline of the epic art of storytelling. While pondering these ideas, it occurred to me—much to my surprise— that similar arguments could be made for biblical narrative. My initial, tentative exploration of this hypothesis (which has since become chapters 3 and 4 of this book) convinced me in a preliminary way that one could indeed describe the syntax of biblical narrative in much the same terms as that of the novel, and that this had implications for the origins of the Bible’s narrative art. I saw here the makings of an interesting project, but it would need to be extended and re¤ned. I next reexamined Robert Alter’s now classic studies The Art of Biblical Narrative and The Art of Biblical Poetry, both of which had already played a crucial role in my academic formation , inspiring me, in particular, to take a speci¤cally literary approach to the Bible. The question before me now was whether the Bible itself provided clues to its own literary origins. It did, in fact, in archaic biblical poetry. Professor Alter had, of course, already written eloquently on both biblical poetry and narrative, as well as on the differences between the two. In light of my nascent project, however, it dawned on me that in certain cases (such as Judges 4 and 5) these differences took on the form of a historical process that further corroborated my thesis. (The literary-historical analysis that grew out of this realization would eventually become chapter 2 of the present study.) I owe a scholarly and intellectual debt to both Robert Alter and Ann Ban¤eld that cannot adequately be registered by mere documentation. I therefore wish to take this opportunity to offer my thanks here as well. My debts do not end there. Ronald Hendel, Chana Kronfeld, and William Propp all read the entire manuscript and encouraged me during various stages of its development. Ariel Bloch, Cynthia Miller, and x Acknowledgments Michael O’Connor generously read and commented on the book’s linguistic arguments. Edward Greenstein kindly provided me with advance copies of relevant forthcoming work. Richard Friedman read parts of the manuscript and gave me the opportunity to present some of my ideas to his colleagues and students at the University of California, San Diego. It was Mark Grif¤th who ¤rst introduced me as a graduate student to Homer and Homer criticism (in particular, to Zielinski’s law, which eventually found its way into chapter 5). Michael Nagler provided sage counsel regarding Homer, and Thomas Rosenmeyer read and commented on chapter 6. I have presented several chapters of this book before a number of professional societies, including the Society of Biblical Literature (2000 and 2001), the Association of Literary Scholars and Critics (2001), the Modern Language Association (2002), and the Society for the Study of Narrative Literature (2003). I would like to thank the various parties involved in helping me formulate my ideas more clearly. Various revisions of the present study were undertaken while I was a Faculty Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley (2001–2003). Final preparation of the manuscript was completed during my ¤rst year as a Dorot Assistant Professor / Faculty Fellow at New York University’s Skirball Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies. I am grateful to both institutions for facilitating my work on this book in the form of a reduced teaching load. Finally, I would like to thank the Koret Foundation for its generous ¤nancial support, making possible the publication of this book through its Jewish Studies Publications Program. I dedicate this book to my sister, my mother, and the memory of my father. ...