Job the Silent: A Study in Historical Counterpoint / Edition 1

by Bruce Zuckerman

Overview

Offering an original reading of the book of Job, one of the great literary classics of biblical literature, this book develops a new analogical method for understanding how biblical texts evolve in the process of transmission. Zuckerman argues that the book of Job was intended as a parody protesting the stereotype of the traditional righteous sufferer as patient and silent. He compares the book of Job and its fate to that of a famous Yiddish short story, "Bontsye Shvayg," another covert parody whose protagonist has come to be revered as a paradigm of innocent Jewish suffering. Zuckerman uses the story to prove how a literary text becomes separated from the intention of its author, and takes on quite a different meaning for a specific community of readers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195121278
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	07/23/1998
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

University of Southern California

Table of Contents

	Introduction	3
Part I
1.	The "Patience" Problem	13
2.	The Akedah Model	16
3.	The Case against a Linear Reading	25
4.	Super-Job	34
5.	Anti-Job	46
6.	Super-Reality	59
7.	The "Sincerely Wrong" Approach	77
Part II
8.	Barriers to Interpretation and the "Bontsye-Model"	87
9.	The Art of Parody: The Dialogue/Appeal	93
10.	The Art of Parody: The Legal Metaphor	104
11.	The Art of Parody: The Death Theme	118
12.	Supplemental Themes	136
13.	Intervening Themes	166
14.	Conclusion: The Joban Fugue	175
	Appendix
	The Text and Translation of Y. L. Perets' "Bontsye Shvayg"	181
	Abbreviations	196
	Notes	199
	Index of Authors	283
	Index of Ancient Sources	288

Editorial Reviews

"Scintillating....A magnificent counterpoint to the traditional interpretation of the biblical book of Job....I found Zuckerman's treatment of Job one of the most stimulating books I have read in some time....I recommend it highly as a possible, and in many ways plausible, reading of the book."—Hebrew Studies

"An intellectual tour de force....Zuckerman's expansive vision offers insights beyond just the Book of Job."—Religion and Literature

"This is a thought-provoking treatment, offering insights on the book of Job (and the other texts referred to) which escape more orthodox readings."—Expository Times

"Zuckerman shows a thorough familiarity and critical engagement with the great commentaries on Job. His control of the periodical literature is impressive and he is very much at home with the broad Western tradition in Israel and the ancient Near East. The skillful use of musical imagery adds pleasure to the reading."—Theological Studies

"Dr. Zuckerman undertakes the major task of a literary critic, and that is to explain the book of Job that we have and how it got that way, what it means, and how it has been interpreted over the centuries. In particular, he investigates the obvious question as to why Job is known in tradition and to us as a very patient and long-suffering individual, whereas in the book of Job itself, for the most part (in the Poem especially) he is anything but patient. His basic view that the Poem is a parody will probably hold up."—David Noel Freedman, University of California, San Diego

From the Publisher