Reading Esther
by Kenneth M. Jr. Craig
Publisher: Westminster John Knox PressPages: 192
Paperback
ISBN: 9780664255183
Overview of Reading Esther
In this original interpretation of the story of Esther, Kenneth Craig offers to interpreters a new context for reading this often undervalued and misunderstood story. According to Craig, this story has been undervalued and misunderstood because its true genre, the literary carnivalesque, has not been considered. The defining image of the literary carnivalesque is the festival itself, whose atmosphere sets the tone, shapes the plot, and defines the images of the story. An integral aspect of this genre is the pairing of opposites and reversals, culminating in a literature that has its own peculiar kind of logic, a world of shifts, and "inside outs", and "turnabouts". Craig defines the book of Esther as the story of such reversals: Haman ends up on the gallows that he had built for Mordecai; and Esther emerges as the hero in this male-dominated narrative world. This book will shine a new light on the book of Esther as it offers to readers a new appreciation of the story's genre as a basis of interpretation.Synopsis of Reading Esther
In this original interpretation of the story of Esther, Kenneth Craig offers to interpreters a new context for reading this often undervalued and misunderstood story. According to Craig, this story has been undervalued and misunderstood because its true genre, the literary carnivalesque, has not been considered.
The defining image of the literary carnivalesque is the festival itself, whose atmosphere sets the tone, shapes the plot, and defines the images of the story. An integral aspect of this genre is the pairing of opposites and reversals, culminating in a literature that has its own peculiar kind of logic, a world of shifts, and "inside outs," and "turnabouts." Craig defines the book of Esther as the story of such reversals: Haman ends up on the gallows that he had built for Mordecai; and Esther emerges as the hero in this male-dominated narrative world.
This book will shine a new light on the book of Esther as it offers to readers a new appreciation of the story's genre as a basis of interpretation.
Society of Biblical Literature - Linda A A. Day
...[D]raws certain concepts from the writings of Mikhail Bakhtin into conversation with the biblical book of Esther, particularly to assess whether Esther might be included with other non-biblical stories designated as the literary carnivalesque....[O]n the whole, this work represents a unique and interesting approach to the book of Esther. Craig has presented a convincing argument.
Editorials
Linda A A. Day
...[D]raws certain concepts from the writings of Mikhail Bakhtin into conversation with the biblical book of Esther, particularly to assess whether Esther might be included with other non-biblical stories designated as the literary carnivalesque....[O]n the whole, this work represents a unique and interesting approach to the book of Esther. Craig has presented a convincing argument.â Society of Biblical Literature
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