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Book
Robert Alter · 1981
A literary analysis of biblical narrative that examines the distinctive principles and techniques of Hebrew Bible storytelling, arguing for close textual attention to conventions, characterization, and narrative art rather than source-critical approaches.
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What this book knows
Hebrew biblical narrative deploys sophisticated literary craft — type-scenes, dialogue, repetition — to hold human freedom and divine design in luminous tension.
faith-and-doubt
the inescapable tension between human freedom and divine historical plan is brought forth so luminously through the pervasive repetitions of the Bible's narrative art
ABN-RC-189the impulse to shape a different kind of narrative in prose had powerfully constructive consequences in the new medium the ancient Hebrew writers fashioned for their monotheistic purposes
ABN-RC-089obedience-and-authority
these writers render their protagonists in ways that destabilize any monolithic system of causation, set off a fluid movement among different orders of causation
ABN-RC-082there is often a tension, sometimes perhaps even an absolute contradiction, between election and moral character
ABN-RC-073self-and-identity
God creates in each human personality a fierce tangle of intentions, emotions, and calculations caught in a translucent net of language
ABN-RC-215minutely discriminating attention to the artful use of language… the kind of disciplined attention that has illuminated the poetry of Dante, the plays of Shakespeare
ABN-RC-038Illuminates
6 published passages · book excerpt · research analysis
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