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Narrative and Other Readings in the Book of Esther

Else K Holt author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Published:8th Apr '21

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

Narrative and Other Readings in the Book of Esther cover

Examines the literary and sociological readings of the Book of Esther, and considers the meaning behind the slaughter of the Persians at the end of the book.

This collection of essays considers the Book of Esther from a literary and sociological perspective. In part one, Else Holt outlines the main questions of historical-critical research in the Book of Esther. She also discusses the theological meaning of a biblical book without God, and examines how the book was transmitted through the last centuries BCE. She also explores how the Hebrew and Greek variants of the Book of Esther picture its main character, Esther, the Jewish queen of Persia.

In part two, Holt offers deconstructive reading of themes hidden under the surface-levels of the book. Chapters include discussions of Esther’s initiation into her role as Persian queen; the inter-textual conversation with two much later texts, The Arabian Nights and The Story of O; and the relationship between Mordecai, the Jew, and his opponent Haman, the Agagite, as a matter of mimetic doublings.

The last part of the book introduces the sociological concept of ethnicity-construction as the backdrop for perceiving the instigation of the Jewish festival Purim and the violence connected to it, and looks at the Book of Esther as an example of trauma literature. The concluding chapter analyses the moral quality of the book of Esther, asking the question: Is it a bedtime story?

Specialists will find much here to chew on. [Holt] engages with many of the major studies on the book of Esther, and she is unafraid to challenge the heavy hitters. The text could provoke some interesting discussion. * Review of Biblical Literature *

ISBN: 9780567697615

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 440g

184 pages