Analyzing Alter's 'Composite Artistry'

Alter – Ch. 7 “Composite Artistry”

The Bible as a whole is unique and foreign to those who have been brought up, immersed in Western style of literature simply because the Bible appears fragmented rather than one unit.

At first glance, the biblical writers and redactors do not seem to possess a sense of unity where their work is concerned.
• Alter counters that maybe they “had certain notions of unity rather different from our own” (165).

Many passages of Scripture refuse to conform to the Western notion of unity and give the notion that they contradict either themselves or other portions of Scripture.
• Example 1: Numbers 16 – story of rebellion in the wilderness.
 There are seemingly two accounts of the rebellion placed side-by-side.
• Important note: Joseph is the “magisterial knower in this story, but at the outset even he has a lot to learn” (198).
• A few various literary and rhetorical devices utilized in this story are listed below:
 Selective silence (from the character) – the reader cannot tell what Joseph’s motives are when he decides to treat his brothers harshly in Genesis 42.
 Dramatic irony – Joseph’s comment about the “nakedness of the land” can be tied to Reuben’s incestuous behavior (203).
 Double meanings – the brothers’ label of “we are the sons of Israel” in the presence of Joseph, who also fits that description.
 Temporal control – the narrator chooses when to speed up and slow down.
 Dialogue and lack thereof – what is told about a character when they speak or when they are cut off?
• The narrator is a game-changer specifically because he/she dictates precisely what the reader should know and when in the story it should be revealed.
 This is most evident when the interpreter is mentioned as being there only after the reader has read a significant piece of dialogue already
This book, more so than any other book or textbook that I have read, has sparked a genuine love for the Old Testament that I can safely say was not there before. My reactions to the last three chapters focus more on the consideration of the biblical writers themselves. I am embarrassed to admit that before reading this book, I fit the mold of people that, as Alter implies, take the ancient biblical writers for granted and inherently assume that their level of intelligence was far lower than the authors of today. To say that I was wrong is a severe understatement. However, I have never been happier to be in the wrong! The chapter on composite artistry in particular helped to educate me just how intelligent and witty these writers and redactors were. I see now that not only were they able to incorporate supposedly opposing viewpoints in the same story, but also they were not concerned with the presence of the multiple accounts. They serve as a role model for me in that they seem to have asked the “right” questions. The easiest example that I can give is that which comes from the two creation stories. The key is to not ask about where and when, but rather how and why. What do I know about God based off of reading the two accounts? It does not matter that they are different; I still know that God is