Items related to Esther Regina: A Bakhtinian Reading (Rethinking Theory)
In Esther Regina: A Bakhtinian Reading, distinguished scriptural scholar André LaCocque deploys the analytical frameworks of Russian critic Mikhail Bakhtin to analyze the book of Esther. Readers and scholars often question the inclusion of the book of Esther in the canon. The book’s flagrant displays of hatred, deceit, violence, and the anecdotal grotesqueries of Purim seem at odds with many biblical traditions. Such confusion, LaCocque reveals, arises from a wrong appraisal of Esther’s literary genre.
LaCocque finds in the book’s grotesque elements—from royal banquets that last a half-year to an improbable succession of coincidences and reversals of fortunes neutralizing a planned genocide—a natural fit with Bakhtin’s description of the “carnivalesque.”
Using key Bakhtinian tools such as the dialogic, the novelistic, the chronotopic, the polyphonic, and authoring-as-creating, LaCocque rereads Esther to show how the book’s comedic mood is paradoxically proportional to the catastrophic predicament of the Jews. Here, as biblical theocentrism shifts to Judeocentrism, we see how the carnivalesque becomes subversive of the Establishment and liberating. In Esther, the underlying conviction is that Jewish survival is providential—and that antisemitism is anti-God. This is, as LaCocque tells us with a nod to Aristotle, a worthy lesson disguised as a "low genre."
LaCocque finds in the book’s grotesque elements—from royal banquets that last a half-year to an improbable succession of coincidences and reversals of fortunes neutralizing a planned genocide—a natural fit with Bakhtin’s description of the “carnivalesque.”
Using key Bakhtinian tools such as the dialogic, the novelistic, the chronotopic, the polyphonic, and authoring-as-creating, LaCocque rereads Esther to show how the book’s comedic mood is paradoxically proportional to the catastrophic predicament of the Jews. Here, as biblical theocentrism shifts to Judeocentrism, we see how the carnivalesque becomes subversive of the Establishment and liberating. In Esther, the underlying conviction is that Jewish survival is providential—and that antisemitism is anti-God. This is, as LaCocque tells us with a nod to Aristotle, a worthy lesson disguised as a "low genre."
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From the Author:
This book has been saluted as rethinking biblical hermeneutics out of new encounter and challenges. It is divided in eight chapters on Esther's literary genre, the Diasporanovella, and with issues related to it, such as time and space (chronotope), irony (the carnivalesque), the canonical status of Esther, possibly dating (the Hellenistic Era), and others. The author uses the Bakhtinian laughter and carnival as ironic and subversive means of conveying a message devoid, oddly enough, of all mention of Israel's faith tenets, such as covenant, Heilsgeschichte, holy land -- in short, anything "theological". However, Esther is religious in the best sense of the word. Purim is to Esther what Passover is to Exodus, for example. Another striking feature is the compete reversal (peripeteia) of fortunes: the victors are defeated and the potential victims of genocide are triumphant. A "modern"reflection more than 2000 years old!
About the Author:
André LaCocque is Professor Emeritus of Hebrew Bible at Chicago Theological Seminary in Chicago, Illinois, and the founding Director of the Center for Jewish-Christian Studies at CTS. He is the author of numerous books and articles, including Ruth: A Continental Commentary (Augsburg Fortress), Esther Regina: A Bakhtinian Reading (Northwestern University Press), and the trilogy on innocence in the Hebrew Bible, The Trial of Innocence: Adam, Eve and the Yahwist (Wipf and Stock), Onslaught Against Innocence: Cain, Abel and the Yahwist, and The Captivity of Innocence: Babel and the Yahwist (both from Cascade). He also coauthored Thinking Biblically:Exegetical and Hermeneutical Studies with Paul Ricoeur.
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- PublisherNorthwestern University Press
- Publication date2007
- ISBN 10 0810124599
- ISBN 13 9780810124592
- BindingPaperback
- Edition number1
- Number of pages216
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Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. Readers and scholars often question the inclusion of the ""Book of Esther"" in the canon. Where, they wonder, do the book's flagrant displays of hatred, deceit, violence, and the antidotal grotesqueries of Purim figure in the biblical tradition? Such confusion, this book tells us, arises from a wrong appraisal of Esther's literary genre. Distinguished scriptural scholar Andre LaCocque draws on the lessons of Russian critic Mikhail Bakhtin to reveal the true comedic nature of the story of Esther and Mordecai. In particular, LaCocque finds in the book's grotesque elements - from royal banquets that last a half-year to an improbable succession of coincidences and reversals of fortunes neutralizing a planned genocide - a natural fit with Bakhtin's description of the ""carnivalesque."" Bakhtin's rediscovery of the carnivalesque employs such key notions and categories as the dialogic, the novelistic, the chronotopic, the polyphonic, and authoring-as-creating. Using these and other Bakhtinian tools, LaCocque rereads Esther to show how the book's comedic mood is paradoxically proportional to the catastrophic predicament of the Jews. Here, as biblical theocentrism shifts to Judeocentrism, we see how the carnivalesque becomes subversive of the Establishment and liberating. In ""Esther"", the underlying conviction is that Jewish survival is providential - and that anti-Semitism is anti-God. This is, as LaCocque tells us with a nod to Aristotle, a worthy lesson disguised as a ""low genre. Readers and scholars often question the inclusion of the ""Book of Esther"" in the canon. Where, they wonder, do the book's flagrant displays of hatred, deceit, violence, and the antidotal grotesqueries of Purim figure in the biblical tradition? Such confusion, this book tells us, arises from a wrong appraisal of Esther's literary genre. Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability. Seller Inventory # 9780810124592
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