(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
Results 1-5 of 17
Page 4
... possible that verbal art produces images so vivid that they " acquire the vivacity of perceptual objects " ? 19 Verbal art , she notes , is almost bereft of any sensuous content . Its visual features , as has often been observed ...
... possible that verbal art produces images so vivid that they " acquire the vivacity of perceptual objects " ? 19 Verbal art , she notes , is almost bereft of any sensuous content . Its visual features , as has often been observed ...
Page 5
... possible for a reader to have such a clear picture of Qohelet ? The identification with Qohelet that many scholars feel is so intense that Gerhard von Rad cites this identification as one of the most dangerous pitfalls for scholars ...
... possible for a reader to have such a clear picture of Qohelet ? The identification with Qohelet that many scholars feel is so intense that Gerhard von Rad cites this identification as one of the most dangerous pitfalls for scholars ...
Page 18
... possible times of Qohelet's writing . Renan refrained from deciphering the cryptogram that he proposed . Frank Zimmermann makes a similar argument , though he does offer a trans- lation . 12 According to Zimmermann , qhlt is a ...
... possible times of Qohelet's writing . Renan refrained from deciphering the cryptogram that he proposed . Frank Zimmermann makes a similar argument , though he does offer a trans- lation . 12 According to Zimmermann , qhlt is a ...
Page 19
... possible meanings and thereby suppresses the word's ambiguity . We have barely begun our reading of this book , and already we are struggling with simple signi- fication . Is Qohelet just a particularly opaque word ? Or is our struggle ...
... possible meanings and thereby suppresses the word's ambiguity . We have barely begun our reading of this book , and already we are struggling with simple signi- fication . Is Qohelet just a particularly opaque word ? Or is our struggle ...
Page 21
... possible risk of any locution , he defines failure in terms of the particular circumstances of the total speech act and consequently insists that failure is abnormal . Derrida positions this possibility of failure in the very law of ...
... possible risk of any locution , he defines failure in terms of the particular circumstances of the total speech act and consequently insists that failure is abnormal . Derrida positions this possibility of failure in the very law of ...
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