An important contribution to techniques of literary interpretation. [Full Review]

This is an exact reprint of the first edition of this book (1989, 1992) without any essential change. Only the front and back covers are different. The volume, of course, is still a valid instrument for all those who endeavor to learn the basics of narrative art in the Bible. When the book was first published there had been a flurry of similar studies. Let us recall here the names of Weiss, Alonso Schkel, Fokkelman, Culley, Jobling, Licht, Alter, Sternberg, Eslinger, Berlin, and so on. Some of the titles appear in the (short) bibliography that concludes Bar-Efrats work (28385). Unfortunately, other, more recent works are not mentioned. It would have been advisable to try to fill out this short bibliography. One should mention at least a few titles of recent manuals, most of them provided with updated bibliographies: Y. Amit, Reading Biblical Narratives: Literary Criticism and the Hebrew Bible (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2001); J. P. Fokkelman, Reading Biblical Narrative: An Introductory Guide (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1999); D. Marguerat and Y. Bourquin, How to Read Bible Stories: An Introduction to Narrative Criticism (London: SCM, 1999); J. T. Walsh, Style and Structure in Biblical Hebrew Narrative (Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press, 2001); D. F. Tolmie, Narratology and Biblical Narratives: A Practical Guide (Atlanta: International Scholars Publications, 1998). Much has been published in English, but several studies have appeared also in French on this topic under the direction of D. [Full Review]