1. Jonah Unbound
- Author
-
Cooper, Howard
- Subjects
Religious fiction ,Bible as literature -- Portrayals ,Novelists -- Beliefs, opinions and attitudes ,Bible and literature -- Portrayals ,Philosophy and religion ,Regional focus/area studies - Abstract
The Hebrew Bible is a compilation of literary 'fictions' and poetry that evoke 'the truth of the human condition' (Elena Ferrante). This article retells the story of the Book of Jonah from the first-person perspective of 'Jonah'. The fictional narrative is rooted in the language and themes of the original biblical text. Jonah is still angry with God's forgiveness of the Ninevites, and readers' complicity in the always-recurring flight from taking responsibility to act against evil in the world. As Jonah tells his story, he regresses into a manic state that parallels chapter 2 of the biblical book. The narrative moves into reflections about humanity's lack of compassion for the natural world, and Jonah's fears about the forthcoming 'ecocide' of the planet. Keywords: anger, anonymity, compassion, deliverance, ecocide, Jonah, storytelling, In memory of Philip Roth (1933-2018) Sheer playfulness and deadly seriousness are my closest friends. --Philip Roth, Reading Myself and Others Shutting his mouth, his eyes and his ears, he [...]
- Published
- 2021
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