(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
... scholars , thereby prompting James Crenshaw to declare that the essential issue in the study of Qohelet in the twentieth century has been the question of integrity . How does one explain the contradictions in the text — multiple authors ...
... scholars , thereby prompting James Crenshaw to declare that the essential issue in the study of Qohelet in the twentieth century has been the question of integrity . How does one explain the contradictions in the text — multiple authors ...
Page 3
... scholars are not immune to the attractions of sex and violence . Consequently , the biblical bodies that have garnered the most attention have been the sexy bodies in the Song of Songs , the bloody body of Jesus hanging on the cross ...
... scholars are not immune to the attractions of sex and violence . Consequently , the biblical bodies that have garnered the most attention have been the sexy bodies in the Song of Songs , the bloody body of Jesus hanging on the cross ...
Page 4
... scholar- ship has been dominated by a conflation of this personality with the author ( s ) of the text , and this author ( s ) passionately pursued ? Elaine Scarry opens Dreaming by the Book with a similar question : How is it possible ...
... scholar- ship has been dominated by a conflation of this personality with the author ( s ) of the text , and this author ( s ) passionately pursued ? Elaine Scarry opens Dreaming by the Book with a similar question : How is it possible ...
Page 5
... scholars feel is so intense that Gerhard von Rad cites this identification as one of the most dangerous pitfalls for scholars seeking the meaning of the biblical book.23 For von Rad , scholarly neutrality and objectivity are necessary ...
... scholars feel is so intense that Gerhard von Rad cites this identification as one of the most dangerous pitfalls for scholars seeking the meaning of the biblical book.23 For von Rad , scholarly neutrality and objectivity are necessary ...
Page 10
... scholars can resist the lure of historical criticism . Carol Newsom points out that it is " striking that scholarly work on Ecclesiastes has remained , with very few exceptions , the province of traditional historical criticism . " 53 ...
... scholars can resist the lure of historical criticism . Carol Newsom points out that it is " striking that scholarly work on Ecclesiastes has remained , with very few exceptions , the province of traditional historical criticism . " 53 ...
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