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Narratology and the Pentateuch Targums

A Methodological Experiment


In this innovative book Simon Lasair explores some of the potentials of applying narratology to the Pentateuch Targums. Lasair argues that when the targums present coherent narratives, they largely carry the major structures of the Pentateuch over into an Aramaic context. This book calls for a wide ranging rethink of the methodologies used to study targumic literature, as well as how to place the targums within their original historical contexts.
Publisher: Gorgias Press LLC
Availability: In stock
SKU (ISBN): 978-1-61143-489-7
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Publication Status: In Print
Publication Date: Oct 19,2012
Interior Color: Black
Trim Size: 6 x 9
Page Count: 220
Languages: English
ISBN: 978-1-61143-489-7
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In this innovative book Simon Lasair explores some of the potentials of applying narratology to the Pentateuch Targums. Using coherence as one of his major issues, he examines passages such as Genesis 39 in Targum Pseudo-Jonathan and Numbers 12 in Targum Neofiti, among others. Through these, and other examinations, Lasair argues that when the targums present coherent narratives, they largely carry the major structures of the Pentateuch over into an Aramaic context. However, it is in the finer details that the targumic narratives take on their distinctive nuances. These distinctive nuances often have the effect of altering the narratological dynamics of the narratives that are being rendered targumically. This book therefore calls for a wide ranging rethink of the methodologies used to study targumic literature, as well as how to place the targums within their original historical contexts.

Simon Lasair is adjunct Professor of History at St. Thomas More College in Saskatoon, Canada. He holds a PhD in Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Manchester.

Cover: Joseph and Potiphar's Wife, oil on canvas, Ludovico Cigoli, 1610.

In this innovative book Simon Lasair explores some of the potentials of applying narratology to the Pentateuch Targums. Using coherence as one of his major issues, he examines passages such as Genesis 39 in Targum Pseudo-Jonathan and Numbers 12 in Targum Neofiti, among others. Through these, and other examinations, Lasair argues that when the targums present coherent narratives, they largely carry the major structures of the Pentateuch over into an Aramaic context. However, it is in the finer details that the targumic narratives take on their distinctive nuances. These distinctive nuances often have the effect of altering the narratological dynamics of the narratives that are being rendered targumically. This book therefore calls for a wide ranging rethink of the methodologies used to study targumic literature, as well as how to place the targums within their original historical contexts.

Simon Lasair is adjunct Professor of History at St. Thomas More College in Saskatoon, Canada. He holds a PhD in Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Manchester.

Cover: Joseph and Potiphar's Wife, oil on canvas, Ludovico Cigoli, 1610.

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ContributorBiography

SimonLasair

Simon Lasair is Adjunct Professor of History at St. Thomas More College, Saskatoon, Canada. He holds an PhD in Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Manchester in the UK. He has published several articles on the Aramaic Targums to the Pentateuch as well as on Midrash Song of Songs Rabbah.

  • Table of Contents (page 5)
  • Preface (page 9)
  • Acknowledgments (page 11)
  • Abbreviations (page 13)
  • Introduction (page 15)
    • 1. What is Targum Studies (page 16)
    • 2. What is Narratology? (page 48)
    • 3. How Might Targum Studies and Narratology Interface? (page 53)
    • 4. The Plan of the Project (page 59)
  • 1 Basic Concepts and Applications (page 61)
    • 1. Some Basic Concepts of Bals Narratology (page 61)
    • 2. Basic Moves of a Narratological Approach to the Targums (page 72)
    • 3. Combining Levels of Analysis (page 86)
    • 4. Conclusions (page 94)
    • 5. Postscript on O and the Narratological Approach (page 94)
  • 2 Two Examples of Narratology at Work (page 97)
    • 1. Explicit Development of a Particular Theme (page 98)
    • 2. Genesis 39 PJ (page 99)
    • 3. Conclusions (page 121)
    • 4. Postscript on the Macro-Hermeneutics of the Genesis 39, PJ Episode (page 121)
  • 3 Narratology and Other Approaches to the Targums (page 129)
    • 1. A Complementary Concept (page 130)
    • 2. Targumic Passages and Pre-Existing Traditions (page 132)
    • 3. Narratology and Other Kinds of Targumic Phenomena (page 148)
    • 4. Conclusions (page 158)
  • 4 Bridging Narrative and History: Narratology and Gender (page 161)
    • 1. Narratology and Gender (page 161)
    • 2. Some Further Methodological Considerations (page 162)
    • 3. Numbers 12, N (page 164)
    • 4. Genesis 16, PJ (page 177)
    • 5. Genesis 39 Revisited (page 189)
    • 6. Conclusions (page 194)
  • 5 Conclusions (page 197)
  • Bibliography (page 201)
  • Index (page 215)
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