Old ideas in a new setting

Abstract

This paper discusses and compares two concepts of text and modes of interpretation: the postmodern and the rabbinic. The primary focus is on this phenomenon which we call literary postmodernism which has been discussed, criticized and praised, from an increasing number of perspectives over the past few decades&&but which we still, for various reasons, cannot quite define. It is generally regarded as an undermining of the conventions of our literary tradition, and perceived as an innovation in modern culture&&though we still disagree about when it began and certainly about where it is taking us. It is often presented as a new way of looking at narrative mechanisms which have been forgotten or suppressed in out literary canon. My proposition, however, is that the postmodern phenomenon is not a new way of reading and writing: It is a way of seeing which in several respects resembles ancient rabbinic modes of interpretation so closely that we may begin to consider it as old ideas in a new setting.

Keywords

• Postmodernism
• Rabbinic literature
• Narration
• Hermeneutics
• Criticism, Textual
• Fiction