Hebrew Bible Monographs 12. Jordan M. Scheetz Tyndale Theological Seminary Badhoevedorp, The Netherlands

Transcription

1 RBL 05/2009 Valeta, David Lions and Ovens and Visions: A Satirical Reading of Daniel 1 6 Hebrew Bible Monographs 12 Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix, Pp. xii Hardcover. $ ISBN X. Jordan M. Scheetz Tyndale Theological Seminary Badhoevedorp, The Netherlands David M. Valeta s recent book, Lions and Ovens and Visions: A Satirical Reading of Daniel 1 6, represents a serious attempt to lead Daniel research out of the complicated genre debate in relation to chapters 1 6. The thrust of the book is found in the application of Russian literary critic Mikhail Bakhtin s genre description of prenovelistic Menippean satire to Dan 1 6 (1). Although an exploration of Bakhtin and his genre designation of prenovelistic Menippean satire has been explored by Julia Kristeva in her 1969 publication Συµειωτικὴ: Recherches pour une sémanalyse (82 112) and has even been discussed in detail in relation to biblical studies in the Hebrew Bible by Georg Steins in his 1999 publication of Die Bindung Isaaks im Canon: Grundlagen und Programm einer Kanonisch-Intertextuellen Lektüre (45 83), the application of the genre prenovelistic Menippean satire to Dan 1 6 is original, as Valeta notes (28). The opening chapter, The Conundrums and Contradictions of Daniel 1 6, walks through the problems surrounding the critical study of these opening chapters of Daniel and the relative lack of consensus in solution to these problems. Valeta finds that: Each of these classifications, while having a few or even many meritorious supporting arguments, remains unsatisfactory because none solves three

2 fundamental issues. First, by minimizing the realities of life lived under the sway and influence of foreign rule, they do not adequately explain the social conditions from which the book arose. Second, none, save one, accounts for the vast amount of humor found within the first six chapters. Third, they leave a number of unresolved literary problems in their wake, such as the presence of the two languages in the book and a plausible explanation of how the two disparate sections of the book relate to one another. (15 16) Of course, the conclusion of the chapter puts forward the hypothesis that prenovelistic Menippean satire draws all of these disparate details together and will explain more fully the difficult features of these stories (38). The second chapter, Bakhtin s Method, Satire, and Daniel 1 6, summarizes the theoretical underpinnings of prenovelistic Menippean satire. Valeta groups Bakhtin s concepts of utterance, language, and heteroglossia together (40 41). An utterance is defined as any unit of language from a single word to an entire text (40 41). Language is that which is repeatable and that which is unrepeatable (41). Heteroglossia is a concept of language that describes the rich and complex nature of the repeatable aspects of language (41). Dialogism is the next key concept, concerning which Valeta notes, Texts may contain unconscious, unintended meanings that arise from the heteroglossic nature of language. In this way, multiple intentions and voices find their home in a text, making the text double-voiced or dialogic (43). Valeta also notes in relation to dialogism, that Communication, therefore, is a socially conditioned dynamic process. However unique an utterance may appear to be, it is inherently intertextual and is shaped by social and ideological forces. No one can escape this fact. Bakhtin also used the word dialogism to describe this interactive, intertextual process of communication (44). The balance given to this concept is found between two extremes in communication: (1) authoritarian objectivism, which is rigidly and abstractly dogmatic; and (2) individualist subjectivism, which is radically relativistic (45). The third main section is genre. Genres, in a quote from Bakhtin, are relatively stable thematic, compositional, and stylistic types of utterances (46). This is further described as a text where [t]he author shapes in his or her creation an overarching, socioideologically guided form through the use of both words and genres, keeping their sociohistorical intonations in mind, and this overarching form is what Bakhtin calls the architectonic structure of a piece (47 48). Bakhtin s critique of genre study is the underappreciation of the social character of literary works (49) and that genre is the starting point of poetics, not the end of the analytical process (50). Genre is then understood not

3 simply as texts that have similar literary characteristics but texts that have similar ideologically trajectories, or share a continuous chain of utterances that share a similar perspective on the world (53). Valeta notes that for Bakhtin the previous concepts are of particular importance in relation to the novel, which is unique because it is characterized by a social, ideological, historical, and semantic diversity that is a constituent part of every human utterance (54). A novel contains diverse genres, languages, and characters, all of which bring about multiple types of dialogism within the text (54). Through this diversity in the novel, there is an effort to undermine the official or high culture of its society (55). All of this theoretical ground work leads to the actual description of prenovelistic Menippean satire (55 66). Historically, this genre is viewed as a precursor to the novel in classical antiquity and is among other serio-comical literature, which has four basic characteristics (55). They are carnivalistic, in that the literature questions and critiques accepted norms and constructions of power and control (57) using the eccentric, profane, grotesque, [k]ingly imagery, doubling or pairing of opposites, and the shattering of normal boundaries (56). They create imaginative scenarios for the exploration of new ideas, which often critique the past (57). They use a variety of styles, languages, and voices, both serious and comic, which create an atmosphere where accepted power arrangements are brought into question (57). Finally, they explore the truth (57). Socratic dialogues and Menippean satire, which began with Menippus of Gadara in the third century BCE but later included Varro, Seneca, Petronius, Lucian, and Apuleius, are examples of this serio-comical literature (57 58). As a part of this broader category, Valeta asserts, Menippean satire consists of a blend of prose, verse, and poetry, often in the form of a loosely constructed narrative or an ironic essay. It is an indirect satire that often delivers a message of judgment through narrative, and the prophetic literature of the Hebrew Bible contains forms of this construct (58). In particular, this genre has, according to Bakhtin, fourteen characteristics that Valeta summarizes as: (1) comic elements; (2) a freedom of plot and philosophical inventiveness; (3) a use of extraordinary, fantastic situations or wild parodic displays of learning to test the truth; (4) some combination of both crude and lofty imagery, settings and themes; (5) a concern for ultimate questions; (6) scenes and dialogue from the earthly, heavenly, and netherworldly realms; (7) observation of behavior from an unusual vantage point; (8) characters who experience unusual, abnormal moral and psychic states; (9) characters who participate in scandals, eccentric behavior, and/or inappropriate speech; (10) sharp contrasts and oxymoronic combinations;

4 (11) elements of social utopia; (12) a variety of inserted genres within the work; (13) a multistyled, multitoned or multivoiced work that is dialogic based on inserted genres, voices, and languages; and (14) a concern with current and topical issues. (63 64) Because many of these characteristics are present in the later novel, this genre is viewed as the growing novelistic impulse in the Hellenistic period (64). With this theoretical groundwork, Valeta reasserts, A careful study of the Daniel narratives in light of Bakhtin s understanding of heteroglossia, dialogism, genre, the novelistic impulse, and Menippean satire will help identify their genre and understand a number of their literary complexities (65). Chapters 3 6 take up groups of these fourteen characteristics in relation to Dan 1 6, dealing in depth with the biblical text in relation to these characteristics. Chapter 3, Non-liminal Comic and Fantastic Accents in Daniel 1 6 (67 110), deals with characteristics 1 and 3. Chapter 4, Transgression, Liminality, and the Carnivalesque in Daniel 1 6 (111 38), takes up 2, 4, and Chapter 5, Social Realities and Daniel 1 6 as the Search for Truth (139 60), explores 5, 11, and 14. Chapter 6, Genre, Language, and Dialogism in Daniel 1 6 (160 95), moves through the remaining characteristics of 12 and 13. Chapter 7 (193 95) gives an appropriate conclusion, summarizing how prenovelistic Menippean satire contributes to six keys issues in relation to Daniel studies. Valeta argues that this genre explains why there are so many genres and subgenres in these chapters, why the book contains two languages, why there is so much humor in these narratives, why there is a public transcript (four men prospering in foreign courts) and a hidden transcript (these same men resisting the same foreign courts), why older tales are used to speak satirically to resist the oppressive political forces of its day, and how chapters 1 6 can be reconciled with 7 12 with the overall critical tone in relation to foreign rule (194). Obviously, this work is based on extensive research in Bakhtin s literary theory, research in the Hebrew/Aramaic text of the book of Daniel, and the corresponding secondary literature (the bibliography extends from 196 to 219, and most pages of the actual text are rich with footnotes). In particular, the textual work of chapters 3 and 4 offers many sensitive concrete observations that reveal moments of intense humor and a literary logic to the present composition of the book of Daniel. The comical situation of Belshazzar with the knots of his loins being loosened and the later verbal connections with the queen mother and Daniel s ability to loosen knots are both very textual and hilarious (95 103). The connection between Dan 2 and 3 with the image of Dan 2 and its

5 transformation in Dan 3 reveals a compositional logic (80). These, of course, are just two examples of many. Indeed, Valeta does succeed in giving support for his thesis, but this does depend heavily on how one key word as a part of this genre distinction, namely, satire, and the related concepts of sarcasm and irony, functions in literary texts. Satire and its related concepts are literary devices that do not mean what they say. In live communication, this is, of course, indicated through inflections of the voice or nonverbal communication. In literary works, this becomes more difficult to identify without clear indications from the narrator or characters stating they did not mean what they said. On a small scale, is the queen mother making a verbal swipe at the king when she tells the king that it is Daniel who can loosen the knots (98), or is she simply telling the king who can solve the distressing situation? On a large scale, does the presence of Hebrew and Aramaic speak of conflicting ideological viewpoints (194) or the reality of these portions having been composed in different languages? Is Dan 1 6 to be read completely as satire critical of the rule of Antiochus IV (194) or as stories of committed Jewish men in exile who prosper due to God s power under the rule of foreign kings? Of course, Valeta argues for the former of these two options. The text of Daniel is not so clear in this regard without this propensity to satirical reading with the Sitz im Leben being Menippean-like satire critical of the rule of Antiochus IV (194). Another difficulty is that prenovelistic Menippean satire becomes the overarching literary type of the book, and apocalypse only becomes a literary subgenre for the book of Daniel. With Dan 2 and 7 12 reflecting such apocalyptic and eschatological perspectives, this appears to be very difficult. In any case, one will have to wait and see through Valeta s further work if indeed he is able to make the case. For those working with literary theory, Hebrew Bible, and/or the book of Daniel, this is a solid contribution, drawing together many streams of thought into a readable and reasonably sized book that is meant to be read in its entirety. One need not agree with every aspect of the proposed Sitz im Leben to learn much from this book.