| abstract | Most biblical scholars agree that irony and humor pervade the book of Esther, however, there is little consensus on the identification of its genre or how humor functions within it. Despite a variety of generic classifications ascribed to the book, most scholars agree that the book functions as instruction for diaspora Jews in how to survive and prosper in a dangerous foreign land by partial assimilation into the foreign culture and participation in its power structures. When the humor in Esther is viewed as satire, the target of critique is usually identified as the Persian authorities and imperial law. Kenneth Craig and André LaCocque have identified Esther as an example of what Russian literary theorist Mikhail Bakhtin calls carnivalesque literature. Using Bakhtin's theory, they both identify a binary opposition between official imperial culture, represented by Ahasuerus and Haman, and unofficial Jewish culture, represented by Esther and Mordecai. LaCocque reads Esther as an example of what Bakhtin calls the first stylistic line of novelistic literature. As a first line novel, Esther can only have a single language and single style that gives expression to official or centripetal forces that work toward centralization and ideological unification. According to LaCocque, the diasporanovelle of Esther provides a new worldview and identity for diaspora Jews. In contrast to previous scholars, this dissertation builds upon the work of Danna Nolan-Fewell, who emphasizes in her work the dialogic and heteroglossic nature of Esther. This thesis proposes that Esther belongs to what Bakhtin calls the second stylistic line of novelistic literature which incorporates heteroglossia (multiple social voices or perspectives) and emerges out of decentralizing and centrifugal forces. The book of Esther is viewed as the unofficial (carnivalesque) response to Israel's official texts produced during the re-establishment of a post-exilic community in the Persian province of Yehud. For those social groups who experience oppression and hardship as a consequence of identity constructions in Israel's official literature, the production of carnivalesque literature is a means to deride, oppose, and undermine the serious and authoritative word that legitimates them. This dialogic approach resists any final word or resolution to the story and puts emphasis on the ethics of biblical interpretation. |
