(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 2
... propose to ask the following questions of Qohelet : What is the relationship between texts and bodies ? And how do both relate to questions of identity ? In other words , I will examine the body in the text , the body of the text , and ...
... propose to ask the following questions of Qohelet : What is the relationship between texts and bodies ? And how do both relate to questions of identity ? In other words , I will examine the body in the text , the body of the text , and ...
Page 10
... proposals have application to the written word as well . Butler states that the word , the thing , and the act cannot be easily unraveled , 50 which suggests that a book is not simply a transparent conduit between author and reader ...
... proposals have application to the written word as well . Butler states that the word , the thing , and the act cannot be easily unraveled , 50 which suggests that a book is not simply a transparent conduit between author and reader ...
Page 12
... proposed solu- tions , but each proposal must suppress some aspect of the text in order to make a fit . Rather than proposing another idea for the structure , this chapter argues that the structure is in a state of decay , which enacts ...
... proposed solu- tions , but each proposal must suppress some aspect of the text in order to make a fit . Rather than proposing another idea for the structure , this chapter argues that the structure is in a state of decay , which enacts ...
Page 16
... propose to read Qohelet as a fictional autobiography but not in a manner that ( ab ) uses the text to get to the author behind it . By naming Qohelet a " fictional autobiography " this chapter serves both to highlight the uneasy ...
... propose to read Qohelet as a fictional autobiography but not in a manner that ( ab ) uses the text to get to the author behind it . By naming Qohelet a " fictional autobiography " this chapter serves both to highlight the uneasy ...
Page 17
... proposal of " der Prediger " ( " Preacher " ) . The English name " Ecclesiastes " is derived from the Latin ... proposals about form and meaning , see Seow , Ecclesiastes , 95-97 . 5. BDB , 875 . 6. Ibid . 7. Henry George Liddell , An ...
... proposal of " der Prediger " ( " Preacher " ) . The English name " Ecclesiastes " is derived from the Latin ... proposals about form and meaning , see Seow , Ecclesiastes , 95-97 . 5. BDB , 875 . 6. Ibid . 7. Henry George Liddell , An ...
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