(Per)mutations of Qohelet: Reading the Body in the BookBloomsbury Publishing USA, 1. juuli 2006 - 152 pages (Per)mutations of Qohelet explores the question, Who is Qohelet? Rather than peering behind or through the text to answer this question in terms of authorship, Koosed analyzes the identity that is created through the words on the page. The text is not a transparent medium connecting reader with author; instead, it is an opaque body - it has weight, substance, skin. Koosed begins with an analysis of the ways in which words construct identities and the reasons why words can affect us so profoundly, relying primarily on the work of Judith Butler and Elaine Scarry. She then explores autobiography and how the genre of autobiography - as reconfigured by Roland Barthes and Jacques Derrida - relates to Qohelet. These two chapters then set the framework for what follows: an analysis of the various bodily organs and sensations contained within the book of Qohelet. The body is embedded in the text through the naming of body parts (eye, hand, heart). And this same body is encoded in form, structure, and syntax, so that the text becomes a body with organs, systems, and even a life of its own. The book is a body and the book speaks of bodies. It speaks of the body's organs and senses; it concerns itself with the pleasures and pains of the body, the gendered body, the dying body. Finally, the ritual body is highlighted in the final passage of this enigmatic book. |
From inside the book
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Page vii
... final form of this project . Thank you for making this publication of my first book seem so effortless by being such a wonderful editor . Thanks also to the people who worked with me on the final preparation of the page proofs : Henry ...
... final form of this project . Thank you for making this publication of my first book seem so effortless by being such a wonderful editor . Thanks also to the people who worked with me on the final preparation of the page proofs : Henry ...
Page 6
... final word and closes the text . A text is not , however , the production of a single creative mind . Rather , " a text is made of multiple writings , drawn from many cultures and entering into mutual relations of dialogue , parody ...
... final word and closes the text . A text is not , however , the production of a single creative mind . Rather , " a text is made of multiple writings , drawn from many cultures and entering into mutual relations of dialogue , parody ...
Page 11
... final cause . The book of Qohelet forms a picture of the speaker not only through language of selfhood and autobiography , but also through the construction of Qohelet's body . The third chapter will begin the probing of the body of the ...
... final cause . The book of Qohelet forms a picture of the speaker not only through language of selfhood and autobiography , but also through the construction of Qohelet's body . The third chapter will begin the probing of the body of the ...
Page 34
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Page 49
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Contents
1 | |
16 | |
Chapter 3 FRAGMENTS OF QOHELETS BODY | 34 |
Chapter 4 QOHELET IN PLEASURE AND PAIN | 53 |
Chapter 5 IN LOVE AND GENDER TROUBLE | 74 |
Chapter 6 DECOMPOSING QOHELET | 88 |
Chapter 7 READING THE EPILOGUE THROUGH THIS BODY | 103 |
Chapter 8 DEPARTURES | 122 |
Bibliography | 124 |
Index of References | 134 |
Index of Authors | 138 |
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Common terms and phrases
ādām Akkadian ambiguity analysis ancient androcentric ănî argues autobiography begins believe biblical body book of Qohelet Brenner Butler chapter Chicago coherent Commentary commentators context contradictions Crenshaw criticism culture deconstruction definition desire Dhorme Ecclesiastes Elaine Scarry emendation epilogue example feminine feminist fiction flesh gender genre gift of death Gliserman God's Gordis heart hebel Hebrew Bible Hélène Cixous human Ibid identity interpretation Isaksson Jacques Derrida Judith Butler language lēb literary male meaning mezuzah misogyny notes noun NRSV Old Testament passage person phrase physical pleasure and pain poem Postmodern proper name Proverbs question R. N. Whybray Rabbi reader reading Qohelet refers ritual Roland Barthes Routledge Scarry scholars Schoors sexual signified singular Solomon Song of Songs speaker speaks speech structure textual theology theory tions tôb toil trans translation University Press verb verses Whybray Wiesel Wisdom Literature woman women words writing York