"Intentional Ambiguity in OT and Ugaritic Descriptions of Divine Conflict," UF 38 (2006): 543-57 (original) (raw)
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Annali di Ca’ Foscari. Serie orientale | 54 | Supplemento | 2018 Texts in Between Action and Non-Action. Genesis, Strategies, and Outcomes of Textual Agency, 2018
DOI 10.30687/AnnOr/2385-3042/2018/01/025 This paper engages in a semiotic analysis of a tawriya-epigram by Šihāb al-Dīn b. al-ʿAṭṭār (d. 794/1392). Mamluk literature is renowned for its extended usage of figures of speech, above all the tawriya, 'double entendre'. The goal of this articole is to shed light on the tawriya, taking into account the Arabic classical theory and presenting a new approach based on semiotics. The subject of my analysis is the most flourishing literary genre of the epoch: the epigram. Within the epigram, the tawriya plays a pivotal role. Its potential is not limited to a twofold reading of the text but rather goes further and creates a second text out from the first, both of which cooperate with one another and shed light upon their respective meanings. Therefore, the epigram by Ibn al-ʿAṭṭār is a construction of several texts, each of which is mutually linked and deeply-rooted in the social and physical environment depicted in the poem: the ḥammām.
Some Reflections on Metaphor, Ambiguity and Literary Tradition
2015
Mesopotamian literary tradition includes compositions that defy our full understanding and challenge our analytical methodologies. They have received various, stimulating categorizations, including the label of parodic texts, but more often their setting is left undecided due to interpretive difficulties, deriving partly from their poor state of preservation and more often from the lack of sufficient comparable materials. This situation is particularly regrettable since these texts often appear to deal with sensitive matters such as the nature of royal and divine power. A potentially productive strategy is to investigate formal structures, looking in particular for those which seem to have undergone developments and recontextualizations through the centuries, and might be considered sources of inspiration and reflection. Scribal tradition, inasmuch as it heavily resorts to literary repertoire, allows us to follow this diachronical perspective. Although the study proposed here is a l...
"Antanaclasis in the Ugaritic Poetic Epics" (2022), 97-129 (Backdated. Appeared in December 2024).
Ugarit Forschungen, 2022
In this study I examine the Ugaritic epics for their use of antanaclasis, a literary device involving the repetition of a word in a different sense. The topic has yet to receive comprehensive treatment in either Ugaritic or biblical Hebrew texts, though it has been known in the latter corpus for many years. After looking at two examples from the Hebrew Bible for comparison, I survey thirty-nine examples of antanaclasis in the Ugaritic poems (Baal, Kirtu, and Aqhat). I then explore its possible functions based on insights derived from scholarship on biblical and Indo-Iranian poetics. Afterwards, I examine the distribution of the device in conjunction with evidence from the Hebrew Bible. I offer a few additional thoughts by way of conclusion.
Stylistic Aspects of Epic Formulae in Ancient Semitic Poetry -- Biblical Narrative.pdf
Linguistic and Stylistic Aspects of Epic Formulae in Ancient Semitic Poetry and Biblical Narrative, 2006
This paper seeks to apply some of the concepts of Discourse Analysis to the study of such stereotyped phrases as the Ugaritic wyšu gh wyṣḥ and the Hebrew וישא קלו ויקרא/ויבך. It is shown that the syntactic structure of these formulae consists of preclause, with predicate and instrumentalis/comitative, and core clause with objective or, e.g., addressee; this analysis applies to Ugaritic, Akkadian, Aramaic and Biblical Hebrew, and is related to the characteristics of the Lean Brisk style of classical BHeb prose narrative..
Ancient Hebrew and Ugaritic Poetry and Modern Linguistic Tools: An Interdisciplinary Study
Journal for The Study of Religions and Ideologies, 2010
This article introduces the reader to the issue of verbal sequence in the poetry of the Hebrew Bible, a topic that was studied in depth as a doctoral dissertation. After noticing the peculiarities of the poetic discourse, it surveys the solutions offered to this crux interpretum to date, but concludes that these solutions are insufficient. Several limitations of such a study are assumed from the outset. We confine ourselves to the Psalter for various reasons given below. Terminologically, we resist the temptation of modern terminology by making use of terms that are as neutral as possible. Methodologically, we employ Systemic Functional Grammar to describe the grammatical incidents wherein verbs are included. Lastly, the paper concludes with an overview of the potential contributions of such a study.
Considerations on Ambiguity in Some Biblical Narratives (Gen 32:23-33; 1 Kgs 18:2-24 and 22:6-15)
“LUCIAN BLAGA” UNIVERSITY of SIBIU “Andrei Şaguna” Faculty of Orthodox Theology, ANUARUL ACADEMIC / ACADEMIC YEARBOOK 2011-2012, Sibiu: Andreiana Publishing House, 2013 , 2013
Historical-critical exegesis has often associated the ambiguity of biblical texts with the process of literary and editorial processing, being either the outcome of combining different literary sources, or of interventions made during text processing, which sometimes were not “perfected” enough, leaving room for lack of cohesion, inconsistencies or ambiguity. Although such an explanation cannot be excluded, we believe that it cannot be invoked regularly. This paper presents four examples of ambiguity in the biblical narrative, which are not accidental, but intentioned by the text: Gen 32:23-33, 1Kgs 18:2b-16, 1Kgs 18:21-24 and 1Kgs 22:6,12,15. Here, the equivocal nature of statements and text ambiguity represent theological means: they may be imposed by the type of discourse (Gen 32:23-33), or can reveal deeper dimensions of biblical characters (1Kgs 18:2b-16, 1Kgs 18:21-24 and 1Kgs 22:6,12,15).
The Shamir, the Letters, the Writing, and the Tablets (Mishnah Avot 5:6) Studies in Honor of Professor Shamir Yona, edited by Mayer I. Gruber, Jonathan Yogev, Daniel Sivan, Loren T. Stuckenbruck, and Eliyahu Assis, 2023
Shirly Natan-Yulzary, "Reading Ugaritic Narrative Poetry: The Use of Sound Repetition, Leitwörter and Semantic Structures in the West-Semitic Tradition." Pp. 315*-330* in The Shamir, the Letters, the Writing, and the Tablets (Mishnah Avot 5:6) Studies in Honor of Professor Shamir Yona, edited by Mayer I. Gruber, Jonathan Yogev, Daniel Sivan, Loren T. Stuckenbruck, and Eliyahu Assis, Jerusalem: Ostracon
Contrast and Meaning in the 'Aqhat Story
Creating contrast between different elements in the narrative is one of the Ugaritic poet’s main poetic devices. This literary tool is employed to encourage the audience to elicit and produce narrative meaning. In ʾAqhat it is a prominent technique, abundant in the lexical make up and stylistic texture of the narrative, in its content, as well as in the narrative structure. The examples analyzed in the article represent only a sampling of the Ugaritic poet's elaborate and complex range of literary creativity. They illustrate the prominence of this device and demonstrate that its use is akin to that familiar from biblical narrative. Thus, this essay also indirectly supports the thesis the literary precursors and background of biblical narrative poetics are reflected in the Ugaritic epics, and that these two corpora are representative of the same literary tradition, not only regard to thematics and language, but also in respect to their poetics.
How Many Sons Did Absalom Have?: Intentional Ambiguity as Literary Art
Bibliotheca Sacra, 2015
The apparent contradictory statements about Absalom's sons, or lack thereof, in 2 Samuel 14:27 and 18:18 have puzzled readers and scholars. This article seeks a new solution by proposing that the author of these texts deliberately created this ambiguity in order to communicate an important message about Absalom. Through the use of apparent contradiction, inclusion, and point of view, the author skillfully linked these two passages. The message communicated is a surprising reversal of Absalom's image who is pictured before his rebellion as someone important, but by the rebellion's end is portrayed as impotent.