(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 27
Page 2
... speaker , the identity of the speaker as well.5 But neither texts nor identities are disembodied . Both are material objects . Language is an organ of the body , and this physicality manifests itself in writ- ing . The body is embedded ...
... speaker , the identity of the speaker as well.5 But neither texts nor identities are disembodied . Both are material objects . Language is an organ of the body , and this physicality manifests itself in writ- ing . The body is embedded ...
Page 3
... speaker is formed through the language of selfhood and autobiography ( " I " language ) , and also through the construction of Qohelet's body . There is no voice without this body in and of the text . Who is Qohelet ? This is Qohelet ...
... speaker is formed through the language of selfhood and autobiography ( " I " language ) , and also through the construction of Qohelet's body . There is no voice without this body in and of the text . Who is Qohelet ? This is Qohelet ...
Page 4
... speaker and links this speaker to the author . Michael Fox argues that Qohelet focuses on the " organizing conscious- ness of the sage " so that his personality is a prominent feature of the text . Martin Hengel notes the " marked ...
... speaker and links this speaker to the author . Michael Fox argues that Qohelet focuses on the " organizing conscious- ness of the sage " so that his personality is a prominent feature of the text . Martin Hengel notes the " marked ...
Page 5
... speaker in the text slides almost imperceptibly into pronouncements about the author behind the text , and this then becomes the primary though unacknowledged rubric through which scholars make their source - critical decisions . We ...
... speaker in the text slides almost imperceptibly into pronouncements about the author behind the text , and this then becomes the primary though unacknowledged rubric through which scholars make their source - critical decisions . We ...
Page 6
... speaker that this speaker has been conflated with an author , theories that examine the connections between language and the body will be employed . 25. See Vincent B. Leitch , American Literary Criticism from the 30s to the SOs ( New ...
... speaker that this speaker has been conflated with an author , theories that examine the connections between language and the body will be employed . 25. See Vincent B. Leitch , American Literary Criticism from the 30s to the SOs ( New ...
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