The theory and method I use in this essay is literary and feministic text critique, to discover the story of Genesis 16 anew. Earlier research in this field has studied Genesis within traditional exegesis since the 19th century and within feministic exegesis since the 1960s. This essay has three main parts. First, a theoretical description of my assignment, followed by analysis and summaries of these. Second, a discussion of this work and final conclusions. In my study, the analysis sheds light on the literary character of Hagar in several ways, both in traditional and feministic exegesis. The traditional biblical study has given a solid ground in the reading of Genesis 16 and the feministic exegesis has given a clear perspective on Hagar as a woman in a patriarchal environment and interpretative tradition. Together they have given a rich telling on the literary character of Hagar. In this essay I make a study of Genesis 16, with a focus on the literary character of Hagar. My point of departure is a sense of lacking the experience of Hagar in the book of Genesis, wondering if a feminist exegesis could give something new in this research. In order to discover eventual differences, I perform a traditional exegesis of Genesis 16, and then compare it with a feminist exegesis. Another question in my research is that of interreligious perspectives of today's society. From this point of view Hagar is a relevant character for both Muslims, Jews and Christians. / I den här uppsatsen gör jag en bibelvetenskaplig analys av Genesis 16, med fokus på den litterära karaktären Hagar ur ett feministiskt perspektiv. Min utgångspunkt var att jag saknade fokus på Hagars erfarenheter i Genesis och undrade om en feministisk exegetik kunde tillföra något nytt i forskningen. För att se på eventuella skillnader utförde jag en traditionell texttolkning av Genesis 16, för att sedan göra en jämförande feministisk texttolkning. En underfråga i min forskning är om den feministiska analysen har något att tillföra interreligiösa frågor idag. Detta utifrån att Hagar är en relevant karaktär för både muslimer, judar och kristna. Den teori och metod jag använder här är litterär och feministisk textkritik, för att upptäcka Genesis 16 på nytt genom dessa analyser av den. Tidigare forskning på området har studerat Genesis inom traditionell exegetik sedan 1800-talet och inom modern feministisk exegetik sedan 1960-talet. Uppsatsen disposition har i huvudsak tre delar. Först ges en inledande teoretisk del där jag förklarar vad jag ska göra och hur, därefter analyser med synteser med efterföljande diskussion av de slutsatser jag kommit fram till. I min studie har analyserna belyst Hagars litterära karaktär på en mängd sätt. Detta gäller både den traditionella och den feministiska exegetiken. Den traditionella bibelvetenskapen har gett en solid grund i analysen av Genesis 16 och den feministiska exegetiken har byggt på denna med emfas på Hagar som kvinna i en patriarkal miljö och tolkningstradition. Tillsammans har en rik berättelse om Hagar framträtt. Hennes karaktär ges mycket utrymme i en närläsning av Genesis 16, likväl som Sarajs. Föräldrar och förfäder är i centrum, inte enbart patriarkerna. Välsignelser och lidande är en del av både männens och kvinnornas liv. Gud hör och ser det som människor upplever och öknen är en plats där människor kan få en erfarenhet av denna relation. / <p>Interreligiösa frågor tas inte upp som kan förväntas av rubriken samt enligt underfråga till frågeställning. Eventuellt skulle mer litteratur ha bidragit till undersökningen.</p>

Beginning with an analysis of Northrop Frye’s concept of modal progression (i.e., the cycle from myth to irony—and back again) and an application of modal theory to an analysis of postmodern narrative forms, the need to revise Frye’s concept of modal progression becomes apparent. Rather than following the cyclical pattern Frye proposes, the course of modal progression appears to be fixed to an axis of experience: a certain normative threshold which describes the narrator’s and/or the narrative protagonist’s power of action relative to an assumed neutral audience. How the narrative depiction of the narrator and/or the fictional protagonist relates to this threshold determines the characteristics of the literary mode. As argued in this dissertation, the increase in the hero’s power of action (typical of late modern and postmodern literature) does not necessarily indicate an abrupt return to the mythic mode (as predicted by Frye). Instead, what is seen to emerge is a decidedly advanced species of narrative irony, or, “high irony” that, while maintaining its distinctly ironic qualities, displays a remarkable tendency to disassemble/reassemble precedent narrative forms (e.g., myth, nonfiction, realistic fiction) into a self-reflexive, highly metafictional form of parody. As the absurd, parodic chaos of the high ironic mode shares several significant traits with both myth and nonfiction, these overlapping, parodic relationships are of great literary importance and theoretical interest. These modal connections and disconnections are what this dissertation attempts to explore and clarify. To that end, this dissertation charts the various ways that myth and nonfictional forms have been put to parodic use in the high ironic metafictions of Donald Barthelme, Robert Coover and Ishmael Reed, three writers whose seminal mid-20th century works did much to shape and direct the course of contemporary American literature. Of special emphasis in this study is the American postmodern preoccupation with revision and the politics of literary subversion that attends this revisionary impulse. The final hypothesis reached by this dissertation is that the literary repercussions of these mid-20th century excursions into ironic, metafictional abstraction have not led to a return to myth, but rather to a discernable tendency among 21st century American writers to return to previously eschewed forms of nonironic narrative. This trajectory thus marks a movement away from forms of narrative irony (as well as away from the mode of myth) and an emerging tendency towards more referential, less fantastic forms of narrative fiction.

Since Julius Wellhausen's synthesis of the Documentary Hypothesis&mdash;and no doubt owing in part to the Protestant Reformation&mdash;dominant portrayals of the Priestly material have described a self&sim;interested legist with little or no concern for those outside the Levitical ranks. Though this negative characterization is recognized by some to be reductionist and misguided, none has undertaken to examine Ishmael's critical role in what is better understood as a universal mode of thinking in P. Examining first the narratives that give indication of Ishmael's status in J and E, I have contrasted Ishmael with the other non&sim;chosen siblings of Genesis, concluding that he is favored in these sources in a way that the others are not; also, that Ishmael and his mother adumbrate not only the distress of Israel's bondage in Egypt, but also their deliverance. With this background from J and E, I have sought to elucidate P's relationship to these sources through its representation of Ishmael in the Abrahamic covenant. It appears that P has recast the promises that Ishmael receives in J and E so that Ishmael is more explicitly excluded from God's covenant with Abraham, on the one hand; but P also identifies Ishmael with the blessing of fertility, invoking the divine injunction to all humanity through both Adam and Noah to &ldquo;be fruitful and multiply&rdquo; (Gen 17:20), on the other. P's emphasis on fertility also relates to Ishmael's own participation&mdash;though he is non&sim;chosen&mdash;in circumcision as the sign of the covenant. Therefore P accounts for God's universal regard for humanity through Ishmael even in his particular covenant with Abraham. / Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations

Although Ishmael does not appear to be a main character in Moby Dick, his narration is integral to the text. Only through telling the story is Ishmael able to give himself a concrete identity, which is reflected not only through himself, but through the thoughts, speeches, and actions of the other characters, specifically Ahab and the shipmates. Ishmael represents the fragmented Romantic of nineteenth century American society. He is bound by a traditional patriarchal world where he must break away from the father to establish his own identity. He has lost his connection to nature, the primal source of his beginningsùthe womb of the mother. Through his hermetic voyage into nature and back to the unconscious, he is able to reconnect to his origins. No longer is he the alienated wanderer, but recreated as the artist, able to create his own myth and identity.

M.A. (Semitic Languages& Cultures) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

This paper investigates Herman Melville’s quest for spiritual stability and certainty in his novel Moby-Dick. The analysis establishes a philosophical tradition of doubt towards the Bible, outlining the philosophies of Thomas Hobbes, Benedict de Spinoza, David Hume, Thomas Paine and John Henry Newman. This historical survey of spiritual uncertainty establishes the issue of uncertainty that Melville writes about in the nineteenth century. Having assessed the issue of doubt, I then analyze Melville’s use of metaphorical charts, which his characters use to resolve this issue. Finally, I present Melville’s philosophical findings as he expresses them through the metaphor of whaling. Here, I also scrutinize Melville’s depiction of nature, as well as his presentation of the dichotomy between contemplative and active questing, as represented by the characters Ishmael and Ahab.

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