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The Book of J |
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Today we had some clarification about the alphabet soup flooding the Book of J. The backgrounds behidn the other authors help bring out the differences, not just historically but also literally in the different books of the Bible. I often wonder what the Redactor was thinking when he "edited" the Bible together. It doesn't flow, like Ovid does but seems to be many different choppy versions of the same story. There is many seemingly redundant repetitions. But for these, I am grateful to the faceless R. The stories can be untwined and examined strand by strand. |
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The Book of J is an interesting study of the combination of biblical and classical literature. It reflects the anthropomorphic strands that represent the gods of Ovid but retains the myth themes that make up the Bible. The characters in J have human characteristics. The women especially have active personalities. Hava, J's representation of Eve, thinks about the forbidden fruit, "woman sees how good the tree looks, to eat from, how lovely to the eyes, lively to the mind." The punishments received seem to reflect J's connection to women (whether it be that he was a woman or was just very sympathetic). The snake was made "enemy to woman, enmity bound between your seed and hers." Yahweh gives Hava pain in childbirth but she doesn't seem deterred. She conceives Cain and says "I have created a man as Yahweh has." She is the mother of all. Her arrogance reminds us of the myth of Lilith and her refusal to let Adam be on top during sexual intercourse. |
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The Lady Lilith by Dante Gabriel Rossetti |
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I have skipped ahead a bit in the Book of J in order to read a story from Genesis that caught my interest. The story was that of Dinah, the daughter of Leah and Jacob. She was out visiting the women of the region when she was abducted and raped. Dinah isn't a major character in either context, the story of Jacob in the Bible or that in J's story. I was surprised upon coming across it, it seemed abrupt and slightly out of place. Dinah isn't treated like the other women in the Book of J. She is still a minor character with unvoiced feelings. I was disappointed with the lack of commentary by Harold Bloom about this story. While the story of Jacob does portray and predict future heros it also carries with it many women who endured hardship at the hands of Jacob himself and his sons. |
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