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Historical Narrative and the Fictionalizing Imagination

Historical Narrative and the Fictionalizing Imagination HISTORICAL NARRATIVE AND THE FICTIONALIZING IMAGINATION by BURKE O. LONG Brunswick, Maine This essay is part of a larger investigation of how Israelite author(s) of the books of Kings went about presenting a picture of Israel's past with imaginative creativity. It is a study of convention and innovation in telling history, about how an author created nar- rative moments in which one imagines a real world peopled with plausible figures who meet one another out of conflicting motiva- tions and personalties. My immediate purpose here is to offer some observations on one example of such "historical" narrative, and to suggest a few implications for continuing issues in biblical research. 2 First, a definition. By historical narrative, I mean simply that kind of story which, while not necessarily suiting our modern stan- dards of objectivity, nevertheless in the main presents plot and characters realistically according to canons of ordinary human experience, and recounts what a particular event was and how it happened. My example is 1 Kgs xx a text that is relatively free of disputes about literary unity. This allows us to engage the task less troubled by problems of source or redaction history.3 3 406 A modern http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Vetus Testamentum Brill

Historical Narrative and the Fictionalizing Imagination

Long, Burke O.
Vetus Testamentum , Volume 35 (4): 405 – Jan 1, 1985
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Publisher
Brill
Copyright
© 1985 Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
ISSN
0042-4935
eISSN
1568-5330
DOI
10.1163/156853385X00150
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

HISTORICAL NARRATIVE AND THE FICTIONALIZING IMAGINATION by BURKE O. LONG Brunswick, Maine This essay is part of a larger investigation of how Israelite author(s) of the books of Kings went about presenting a picture of Israel's past with imaginative creativity. It is a study of convention and innovation in telling history, about how an author created nar- rative moments in which one imagines a real world peopled with plausible figures who meet one another out of conflicting motiva- tions and personalties. My immediate purpose here is to offer some observations on one example of such "historical" narrative, and to suggest a few implications for continuing issues in biblical research. 2 First, a definition. By historical narrative, I mean simply that kind of story which, while not necessarily suiting our modern stan- dards of objectivity, nevertheless in the main presents plot and characters realistically according to canons of ordinary human experience, and recounts what a particular event was and how it happened. My example is 1 Kgs xx a text that is relatively free of disputes about literary unity. This allows us to engage the task less troubled by problems of source or redaction history.3 3 406 A modern

Journal

Vetus Testamentum – Brill

Published: Jan 1, 1985

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