A01=Ilana Pardes
academic
anthropomorphism
anxiety
Author_Ilana Pardes
belief
bible stories
biblical nation
Category=DSB
Category=NHC
Category=NHG
Category=QRJ
Category=QRM
Category=QRVC
christian
christian faith
christian living
christianity
collectivism
communal
community
desire
destiny
eq_bestseller
eq_biography-true-stories
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
exodus
feminist
historical
historiography
holy book
literary
metaphor
nation
national imagination
numbers
paradigm
psychoanalysis
religion
religious studies
scholarly
Product details
- ISBN 9780520236868
- Weight: 272g
- Dimensions: 133 x 205mm
- Publication Date: 01 Sep 2002
- Publisher: University of California Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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The nation - particularly in Exodus and Numbers - is not an abstract concept but rather a grand character whose history is fleshed out with remarkable literary power. In her innovative exploration of national imagination in the Bible, Pardes highlights the textual manifestations of the metaphor, the many anthropomorphisms by which a collective character named 'Israel' springs to life. She explores the representation of communal motives, hidden desires, collective anxieties, the drama and suspense embedded in each phase of the nation's life: from birth in exile, to suckling in the wilderness, to a long process of maturation that has no definite end. In the Bible, Pardes suggests, history and literature go hand in hand more explicitly than in modern historiography, which is why the Bible serves as a paradigmatic case for examining the narrative base of national constructions. Pardes calls for a consideration of the Bible's penetrating renditions of national ambivalence. She reads the rebellious conduct of the nation against the grain, probing the murmurings of the people, foregrounding their critique of the official line.
The Bible does not provide a homogeneous account of nation formation, according to Pardes, but rather reveals points of tension between different perceptions of the nation's history and destiny. This fresh and beautifully rendered portrayal of the history of ancient Israel will be of vital interest to anyone interested in the Bible, in the interrelations of literature and history, in nationhood, in feminist thought, and in psychoanalysis.
Ilana Pardes is an Professor of Comparative Literature at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She is the author of Countertraditions in the Bible: A Feminist Approach (1992).
