Sustaining Fictions: Intertextuality, Midrash, Translation, and the Literary Afterlife of the Bible (Library of Hebrew Bible - Old Testament Studies)

253 Pages·2008·6.31 MB·English

by  Lesleigh Cushing Stahlberg

LIBRARY OF HEBREW BIBLE/
OLD TESTAMENT STUDIES
486
Formerly Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement Series
Editors
Claudia V. Camp, Texas Christian University
Andrew Mein, Westcott House, Cambridge
Founding Editors
David J. A. Clines, Philip R. Davies and David M. Gunn
Editorial Board
Richard J. Coggins, Alan Cooper, John Goldingay, Robert P. Gordon,
Norman K. Gottwald, Gina Hens-Piazza, John Jarick, Andrew D. H. Mayes,
Carol Meyers, Patrick D. Miller, Yvonne Sherwood
PLAYING THE TEXTS
Editor
George Aichele, Adrian College
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SUSTAINING FICTIONS
Intertextuality, Midrash, Translation,
and the Literary Afterlife of the Bible
Lesleigh Cushing Stahlberg
Copyright © 2008 by Lesleigh Cushing Stahlberg
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, including photocopying,
recording, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher, T & T Clark
International.
T & T Clark International, 80 Maiden Lane, New York, NY 10038
T & T Clark International, The Tower Building, 11 York Road, London SE1 7NX
T & T Clark International is a Continuum imprint.
Visit the T & T Clark blog at www.tandtclarkblog.com
The Hebrew font used in this publication, Bwhebb, is used with the kind permission of
BibleWorks, LCC. Visit www.bibleworks.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Stahlberg, Lesleigh Cushing.
Sustaining fictions : intertextuality, Midrash, translation, and the literary afterlife of the
Bible / Lesleigh Cushing Stahlberg.
p. cm. -- (The library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament studies ; #486) (Playing the texts)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-567-02709-2 (hardcover : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-567-02709-0 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Bible. O.T.--Criticism, interpretation,
etc. 2. Bible. O.T.--Translating. 3. Bible as literature. 4. Midrash--History and criticism. I.
Title. II. Series.
BS1171.3.S73 2008
221.6'6--dc22
2008012540
06 07 08 09 10 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
This way we write each other’s lives—by means of fictions. Sustaining fictions.
Uplifting fictions. Lies. This way we lead one another toward survival. This way we
point to the darkness—saying: come with me into the light.
—Timothy Findley, Headhunter
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CONTENTS
Preface ix
Chapter 1
SPEAKING THE WORLD INTO BEING 1
From Moses to Moses, There is None Like Moses 1
The Three Dimensions: Approach, Stance, and Filter 5
The Three Paradigms: Intertextuality, Midrash, Translation 8
Chapter 2
CREATION IN THE IMAGE 16
Reception Theory and Literary Afterlives 16
Talking about the Literary Afterlife of the Bible 22
The Art of Biblical Retelling 25
Chapter 3
ACCORDING TO THE LIKENESS 38
Literary Criticism and the Interrelationships of Texts 38
Imitation 38
Invention 42
Influence 44
Intertextuality 50
Chapter 4
NAMING THE ANIMALS 59
Intentiveness in Retelling 59
Intentional Interrelationships 61
Naming the Animals 81
Hypertexts Generate Hypertexts 89
Chapter 5
ISIT IN HEAVEN? 92
Midrash and Literature 92
What is Midrash? The Two Faces of Midrash:
Halakhah and Aggadah 93
The Nature of the Aggadah 96
The Inner Logic of Aggadic Midrash 101
viii Sustaining Fictions
What is the Midrash of the Literary Theorists? 107
Postmodern Midrash 111
Midrash and Indeterminacy? 114
It Is Not in Heaven: The Problems with the Midrash
of the Literary Theorists 116
What is Modern Midrash? 125
The Jewish Question 127
Chapter 6
THEWORD IS VERY NEAR 136
From Aggadah to Halakhah:
Co-opting the Vocabulary of Midrash 136
The Middot: Principles of Rabbinic Exegesis 139
The Viability of Co-opting (Anew) the Vocabulary of Midrash 157
Chapter 7
LETUSCONFOUND THEIRLANGUAGE 160
The Literary Afterlife:
Where Retelling and Translation Intersect 160
Theories and Theoretical Vocabularies of Translation 163
The Science of Translation 168
Early Translation Studies 172
Polysystem Theory 173
Deconstruction
(Or, Translation and the Vocabulary of Deformation) 175
The Approach of the Translator 181
Chapter 8
UNTOALLLANGUAGES THAT DWELL IN THE EARTH 188
The Stance of the Translator 188
Translating the Language of Translation 198
Translation as Cure 206
Chapter 9
THESE ARE THE WORDS 209
What is the What? 211
The Language of Approach 211
The Language of Stance 212
The Language of Filter 213
Sustaining Fictions 213
Bibliography 218
Index of References 237
Index of Authors 239
PREFACE
When The Preservationist, David Maine’s 2004 novel about the biblical
flood, came out, it was met with praise from the critics. One described
the novel, which is narrated in turn by Noah (whom Maine calls Noe), his
wife, his sons, and their wives, as being replete with “witty, sometimes
beautiful touches.”1 Another, who characterized the book as “earthy,
funny, oddly moving,” declared that it was the way that Maine “twists the
tale—familiar, jokey, mildly bawdy and fully immersed in the rugged,
relentless activity of building and maintaining the ark—that gives the
novel its ruling spirit.”2 Beyond the image of Maine twisting the biblical
tale, the reviewers offered little insight into the relationship between tell-
ing and re-telling. In his review, Melvin Bukiet depicted the negotiation
between ancient text and contemporary literature: “Sometimes the
function of fiction is to take the familiar and make it surprising. At other
times stories take the surprising and make it familiar.”3 In Bukiet’s view,
Maine accomplished both, establishing a “pattern of the unexpected and
the expected.”4 Reviewer Janet Maslin asked (and answered), “What
justifies Maine’s appropriation of this biblical story? The author is clearly
more interested in imagination than in cannibalization. He envisions the
events in Noe’s life with a mixture of awe and realism.”5 We could argue
that Maslin speaks to the central aspects of retelling: what this book will
describe as approach (how a later text gains access to an earlier), stance
(the attitude the later text takes to the earlier), and filter (the lens through
which the later views the earlier). She accounts for the approach of the
retelling (imagination as against cannibalization—the book embellishes
rather than devours the biblical text), its stance (appropriation—the novel
1. Ron Charles, “Guess Who Does all the Work on the Ark” (Review), Christian
Science Monitor (July 20, 2004), Features, Books, 16.
2. Martin Levin, “The Sea, The Sea” (Review), The Globe and Mail (July 17,
2004), Book Review, Shelf Life, D13.
3. Melvin Jules Bukiet, “Rain Man” (Review), The Washington Post (June 27,
2004). Book World, T06.
4. Ibid.
5. Janet Maslin, “Before there was Global Warming, There was Global Soaking”
(Review), The New York Times (June 28, 2004), Section E, Books, 6.
1