SUNSTONE SUNSIDNE Fmndrd m 19i4 matically suspected of heresy or greater SCOTT KENNEY 1975-1978 FAIR COMPENSATION ALLEN D. ROBERTS 1978-1980 crimes, and God's adherence to the Republi- PEGGY FLETCHER 1978-1986 ARY BERGERA'S "Wilkinson the Man" can party had become an article of faith. DANIEL RECTOR 1986-1991 Editor and Publisher G (SUNSTONE,July 1997) makes me want Although Wilkinson supported the library ELBERT EUGENE PECK to relate my first experience with Wilkinson. with money, one always suspected that the Managing Editor Ofice Managrr ERICJONES CAROL B QUlST In 1954, when we were law students at administration considered us as the enemy Associnte Ed~lon Pmduction Manager the University of , Tom Greene and I Therefore, I'm more than irritated that GREG CAMPBELL MARK J. MALCOLM BRYAN R7ATERhAN won a moot court competition dealing with Gary Bergera's paean to Wilkinson should in- Prtion Editors the issue whether schools that the Church clude the repeated remarks by William MARNI ASPLUND CAMPBELL. Comucop~a LARA CANDLAND ASPLUND. l~ct~on had, yean earlier, transferred to the state, Fdwards about BYU's being a high-class ju- DENNIS CLARK, poetv remews would revert to Church ownership if the nior college. Edwards was a brilliant man in BRIAN KAGEL, news STEVE MAYFIELD. l~branan state closed the schools. The issue concerned finance, but in reality he, like most of the DIXIE PARTRIDGE, poetry BYU WILL QUIST, new books president Ernest L. Wilkinson in his role men Bergera quotes, held his position at BYU PHYLLIS BAKER. hct~oncontest as Church commissioner of education. because he was ultimately a sycophant. Ed~tonalAssistants SARA CHRISTENSEN. LOWELL N. HAU'KES. BEVERLY HOPPE Tom and I received a request to come to Bergera should have written a more objec- JANE MOMBERGER. WENDY MURDOCK Provo to discuss the issues with President tive article quoting some of the individuals ERIC SINGLETON. LYN WORTHEN Advisory Editorial Bmrd Wilkinson. We were flattered. Once in his of- who ultimately left BYU because of The Man. PAT BAGLEY BRJAN BEAN. T. E BEHREND fice, we presented our views of the legal situ- WILLIAM BRACE JAYS. BYBEE. CONNIE DISNEY MICHAEL HARWARD. LYNNE KANAVEL WHITESIDES ation. Then he questioned and cross- River Forest, IL Contributing Column~sis examined us vigorously and sharply. My un- ORSON SCOTT CARD. COURTNN CAMPBELL DORICE WlLLlAMS ELLIOTT. MICHAEL HICKS spoken reaction was, "What nen7ehe has, to TONY HUTCHINSON. DALID KNOWLTON CRITICAL CULTURE MARYBETH RAYNES. PETER SORENSEN ask us to come all the way down here to do STEPHEN THOMPSON. DAVID P WRIGHT him a favor and then treat us like that!" APOLOGIZE that my review of Benson Corresponden& JOANNA BROOKS. NEAL & REBECCA CHANDLER As we left, he picked up from his secre- I Parkinson's novel The MTC: Set Apart BRIAN EVENSON. KARL SANDBERG tary's desk checks already made out to us, (SUNSTONE,Apr. 1997) was perceived as be- HOLLY WELKER Cartoon~rts each in the amount of twenty-five dollars, a ing "harsh" ("An Empty 'C"' by Thomas F: PAT BAGLEY. CALVIN GRONDAHL CHRIS CHECKETTS. KENT CHRISTENSEN significant sum for the time. I then realized Rogers, SUNSTONE,July 1997). 1 honestly SAM DAY. MARVlN FRIEDMAN. STEVE KROPP that even though we were students, he had didn't (and still don't) think my criticism to CARL MCBRAYER. ROBERT MURRAY BRUCE READE, BRAD VELEY. RYAN S. WAYMENT paid us the compliment of treating us as pro- be such. Nor was (or is) my criticism of the Volantrrrs fessionals who should expect to have their novel's quality intended to be personal. I PHYLLIS BAKER. VIRGINIA BOURGEOUS JIM DYKMAN. DEE FREEMAN. VICTOR GENER views tested by challenge and who are wor- have no intention of discouraging Parkinson BARBARA HAUGSOEN. MICHAEL OWNBY WENDY SILVER. JEANNE WINDER. JIM WOOD thy of fair compensation for their work. or others from writing realistic fiction that il- EDWARD L. KIMBALL luminates asDects of the Mormon cultural ex- THE SUNSTONE FOUNDATION Ernest L Wilkinson Chai~emeritus perience. Indeed, a careful and incisive social Board ul Trustees J. Reuben Clark Law School exploration and evaluation, such as that of KENT FROGLEY. vice cha~r:STAN CHRISTENSEN ROBYN KNIBBE DAVIS. GLEN LAMBERT Brigham Young Univerisity which the best realistic fiction is capable, MARY ANN MORGAN. LOUIS hlOENCH. MARGARET REISER would be extremely valuable in shaping a ELBERT EUGENE PECK Erealive Dirrctor WLKINSON THE HUMAN genuinely Mormon literature and in trans- ELBERT EUGENE PECK forming our culture. Syrnpossm Chairs MOLLY BENNION. Northwest AM FROM THE pre-Wilkinson era of I continue to stand by my evaluation of ANN STONE & SUSAN PAXMAN HATCH. Chicago MTC: BARBARA RONNOW-BUNKER. Washington. D.C. I Bn]. I had the pleasure of studying under The Set Apait. The book certainly has REBECCA LINFORD. St Paul. Mn. some truly great teachedscholars-Orea potential, though the potential seems to me National Advlrory Board ALAN ACKROM). IRENE BATES Tanner, l? A. Christensen, Thomas Martin, largely unrealized except, as I suggest in my IAN BARBER. MOLLY BENNION Russell Swenson, and Brigham Madsen. Most review, in perhaps one or two chapters. I KATHERINE BOSWELL CARLAN BRADSHAW, BELLUMY BROWN of their accomplishments are recorded in judged the book not only through exterior COLE CAPENER. RENEE CARLSON BLAINE CARLTON. PAUL CARPENTER Jean Ann Waterstradt's They Gladly Taught. standards but according to the best writing to S'EPHEN C. CLARK. DOUGLAS CONDIE In those days, BYU said that knowledge was be found in it, and in light of that writing, I JOHN COX. D. JAMES CROFT WlLFRlED DECOO, ROBERT FILLERUP power; it made the road to truth a personal feel that a good deal of the rest of the book SHELDON GREAVES MARK GUSTAVSON. LIONEL GRADY venture on which one sometimes encoun- fails. It is a book that has the seeds of a better JEFFRN R. HARDYhWN. NANCY HARWARD tered pot holes, sudden turns, and strange book in it, and 1 think that Parkinson de- DIETRICH KEMPSKI. MILES SPENCER KIMBALL SHUNlCHl KUWAHATA. GREG KOFFORD digressions. My loyalty to the Church was serves to be faulted for not bringing the FARRELL LINES. PATRICK MCKENZIE tested and strengthened by the vigor and dif- whole of the book up to the level of the best CARRIE MILES. RONALD L MOLEN MARJORIE NMTON, GRANT OSBORN ferences among the faculty I feel good about chapters. Encouraging him by saying that the ALICE ALLRED POTTMYER. DANIEL H. RECTOR CHRIS SEXTON, RICHARD SHERLOCK my student years at BYU. book is "good enoughn both inhibits GEORGE D. SMlTFl JR.. NICHOLAS SMITH I do not, however, feel so good about my Parkinson's own artistic development and the RICHARD SOUTI~\VICK.MARSHA S STEWART LORlE WINDER STROMBERG. JOHN &JANET TARJAN years as a member of the library faculty un- development of Mormon literature. NOLA W WALLACE. HARThlUT WEISSMANN MARK J. U'ILLIAMS der Ernest L. Wilkinson. Conformity had be- The purpose of criticism should be to come the watchword, Democrats were auto- evaluate the quality of the fiction against

PAGE 4 SEPTEMBER 1997

------~A SUNSTONE

standards high enough to be worthy of the ALMOST ALL of our actions. importance of the subject matter. These stan- Office does not confer wisdom! Ignor- dards must also be aware of the potential role OW MUCH IS almost all in "almost all ance, inexperience, bias and prejudice, inad- the fiction might play in helping us under- H men, as soon as they get a little author- equate time to contemplate and consider, stand our relationship to both our broad and ity, as they suppose, will exercise unrighteous and many other factors make it easier to local culture. If a work of fiction is bland, un- domintion"? (D&C 121:39). All is obviously adopt a somewhat mindless, simpler "role challenging, or stereotypical, that should be 100 percent. Is almost all 99 percent? Or 98 and rule" ethic in dealing with the human acknowledged by critics rather than being percent? Or a more liberal 95 percent? problems we face. But a "consequential ethic" glossed over because of the appeal of the sub- Obviously, it is more than half, possibly two- requires looking into the future and consid- 'ect matter or because the work does begn to thirds or three-fourths. How few are those ering the collateral possibilities for inadver- break through Mormon writers' typical in- exceptions who are not in the "almost all"? tent harm done to the people involved, their ability to deal realistically with the MTC expe- We male priesthood holders all like to loved ones, and their fellow Church mem- rience. think we are in the elite few Oh, we stumble bers (and the Church itself). The stress We do ourselves a tremendous disservice occasionally, but by and large we are, as andlor pain caused must be accurately per- by praising mediocre books because they're Henry Higgins sang, "a marvelous sex!" ceived and empathized with. simply the best that we have before us. When we go up the ladder of office, the Each soul, a child of god, is of equal value Mormon literature has suffered immensely opportunities (and temptations) to exercise in our savior's eyes, so we are told, and,the from critics' willingness to serve as apologsts "unrighteous dominion" increase exponen- concern for the "lost sheep," with the dire for it. It will continue to suffer as long as we tially. The higher the office, the more oppor- consequences if we cause one of these to as critics remain willing to praise the halfway tunities for (and the greater difficulty in "fall," should give us pause daily. Any correc- good instead of pushing writers toward avoiding) such condemned behavior, when tion ("speaking sharply") is to be followed by greater stylistic, aesthetic, and cultural suc- we exercise the "duties" and the "authority" an increase of unfeigned love so the reproved cesses. of office conferred on us from echelons one will not think us their enemy. All actions BRIAN EVENSON above, with everyone pointing upward (fi- of an authority carry with it the dangers of Stillwater; OK nally to deity) as the source and justification psychological domination, which are inher-

SESQUICENTENNIAL

SEPTEMBER 1997 PAGE 5

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ent in the authority structure, and these must that's about as good as you get. And that sim- challenge to see an analogy between today's be neutralized by true compassion. ple analogy got us through the whole pioneer spiritual struggles and the physical chal- Throughout religious history, the domina- syndrome just fine. lenges of our pioneer founders. tion score has been disgracefully high, actu- Maybe I haven't got everything published There are many of us who are not particu- ally making a mockery of the fundamental on this event, but I don't recall anything ex- larly fond of Utah, but I think most of us rules for dealing with fellow church mem- clusive about it. Surely Van Beek doesn't would at least admit that it has been of some bers or with other religions. The deadly insis- really think, as he seems to imply, that the importance in general Church history. It's tence on some belief principle-with Church, by asking its members to celebrate time for Van Beek to give up his petty jeal- condemnation, circumscription, spiritual ex- one event, is also asking them to jettison the ousies and accept that the great formative pe- ecution, burning, and other "penalties"- rest of human history. Struggle, sacrifice, riod of the modem Church took place in a have blackened all religious history. overcoming odds-those are among the state he doesn't like. If those early Saints had The pompous, frightened little men, great archetypes of human experience. not gone through the sacrifices we celebrate puffed up by the title of office and its power, People love to read about them in good nov- this year, the Church would be just another who hunker down behind their impenetra- els, so why should they find the same quali- little known curiosity of American history, ble, "god's will" bamcade (their minds tightly ties odious just because they were like the Strangites or the Reorganites. 1 hope closed) are the "true believers" who Satan demonstrated once in Utah? 1 spent my mis- he doesn't find that a cheering prospect. uses to disgrace and destroy religion. sion in Holland and recall many native cul- CLIFFORDSORENSEN LEW b! WALIACE tural events sponsored by the Church. Has San Gabriot, CA that all been stopped? as everyone been or- BODY, PARTS, & PASSIONS dered into denim and rringham and been told ., u PIONEERS to spend their days pulling handcarts along ARRIE MILES'S ARTICLE, "The the dikes? The fact is that Van Beek can cele- C Genesis of Gender, Or Why Mother in ALTER VAN BEEK'S letter "0 brate anything he wants. The Church is just Heaven Can't Save Youn (SUNSTONE,July W Pioneers!" (SUNSTONE,Apr. 1997) asking him to take a day to commemorate a 1997) is first rate. Her statement that has got to be one of the stupidest I have read. little Church history. It won't hurt. "Anyone who has tried to live her life solely First of all, the Church is not celebrating a If Van Beek would look around, he would within the gender box knows that there is "150 years of Utah pioneer history," but find many examples of pioneer spirit in not enough room in there for a whole per- rather the 150th anniversary of the arrival of Holland. I read De Ster every month and son, let along a god will resonate with many the pioneers in Utah. Van Beek sounds a bit there's almost always a story about some little men as well as women. Miles assertion that like a New York Jew asking why he should branch struggling to sunive or even grow "God must be more than all the metaphors celebrate Passover when he's never been to under the harsh spiritual conditions of mod- we use to describe hirnlher" should be com- either Egypt or Israel. After all, doesn't New em life. It's really not such a great intellectual mitted to memory, if not carved in stone. York have its own history? My fellow Ugandan mem- bers, who tend to be quite -- limited in education and who have no pioneer tradition at all, took maybe ten minutes to understand the concept of "pioneer" as we use it in the CI. Church. I can't imagine it 5 would take any other group " I , much longer. Of course, ! 8 these are humble people. Members here are used to poverty and a hard daily grind just to survive, and they were rather impressed that early members voluntar- ily underwent the same con- ditions for the sake of their religion. We celebrated Pioneer Day by going out to Mulago Hospital, where we scrubbed the corridors and cleaned the rat-infested grounds. Maybe there wasn't faith in every swab of the mop or slash of the panga, but there was faith in a lot of them, and

SEPTEMBER 1997 PAGE 7 SUNSTONE

She is correct that the Bible gives us rich GRAVE HUMOR thies of its people, their respect for the laws and varied metaphors to help us understand of the land and their loyalty to high ideals." and relate to God. To take one of these N response to the news story, "Elder 1 have often acted as funeral director for metaphors, such as "father," literalize it and I Packer Outlines 'Unwritten Order'. people of other faiths. I am reminded of then maintain that God is in actuality mascu- (SUNSTONE,Apr. 1997). I have been profes- bringing casketed remains into a church for a line is not only to deify gender, as Miles sionally involved in funerals for over twenty funeral service and meeting a distressed cler- points out, but it is also to absolutize our lim- years, I have long taken pride in the reverent gyman who asks, "And which one of my ited human understanding and circumscribe and dignified manner in which Latter-day parishioners is this? Now, what was that God in a way that many Christians would Saints care for their dead. Perhaps no other name again?" It is not unusual for the family consider idolatrous. If there are any other faith so exemplifies the words of the English of the deceased after the funeral service, to Christian faith traditions that assert that God statesman William Gladstone: "Show me the comment, "Pastor Johnson didn't even men- is literally a male, I am not aware of them. manner in which a nation or community tion Dad's name." FRANCES LEE MENLOVE cares for its dead, and I will, with mathemat- Which brings me to my point-Elder Berkeley, CA ical exactness, measure the tender syrnpa- Packer's statement that "people need to hear about the Atonement, not the deceased. ...

RE'

tis introduction to his accla nslation of Genesis, Robert ebrew scl 1 author c$The Art Liblical Narrative, describes in recnnical but facinating detail itls jrusrranon.. w~rnmoaern . muren.1 1. rranslations.L.

strate. The continui moreover, for writer 5 in our oum age )NE TI-IINKS OF THE GR EAT EN( -. ng appeal,...... 1 among- - .-~wmtieth-century-.- novel ists-writ en like Joyce, ot this syntax dominated by "and," which highhghts the dlscrete Nabokc)v, Faulkner, and Virginia WooIf-there is not one among event, suggests that parallel syntax may still be a perfectly viable way to represent in English the studied parallelis;m of verbIS and them whose use of language, includin,g ...the depll oyment . of. syntax, even vaguely resembles the workaday simplicity and patly ,,..,.,rnncic- clauses of ancient Hebrew narrative. tent orderliness that recent translators of the Bible have posited as Since,a literary s tyle is corr posed of 1 elements as well the norm of modem English. It is also well to keep in mind that lit- as larger s eatures. an ~~~n~lishtr lust confront the whether t he ubiquil ew particle that erary style, like many other aspects of literature, is constantly self- pesky qu . . recapitulative, invoking recollections o fits near and distant literary means "and should be represented at all in translation. This is ob- antecedents, so that modemists like Jo:yce and Fa ulkner sornetimes viously not a problem when the waw simply connects two nouns- echo biblical language and cadences, and a ma1nnered stylist like as in "the heavens and the earthn-but what of its constant use at

nertivp ~ ~~~ Hemingway, in making "andn his most prominent con L. CI....,, the beginning of sentences and clauses urefixed to verbs? The argu- surely has the King James Version of the Bible in mind. An(1 in any ment aga inst transl;ating it in these case:5 is that th Ie primary func- event, the broad history of both Semitic and European la1Iguages tion of tb Ie waw apl3ended to a verb is 1not to sigrIify "and 1but to and literatures evinces a strong differentiation in most peri ods be- indicate I:hat the H ebrew pre :fix conjug;ation, wh ich othemJise is . ? tween e nguage an d the language of lite:rature. used for actlons yet to be completed, 1s reporting past events The In of bibli cal philologists that parallel s]ptax is (hence its designation in the terminology of classical Hebrew gram- modem li terary English is belied by the F~ersistent F lresence mar as "the waw of conversion"). It is far from clear, as modem alien-. to.. . .-. 01 highly wrought paratactic prose even at the end 01 the t~,..,.,....mntioth Bible scholars tend to assume, that the fulfillment of one linguisitc century. A variety of self-conscious English stylists in the modem function by a partic:le of speec:h automat.ically excl udes any cjthers; era, from Gertrude Stein to Cormac McCarthy, have exh ibited a on the contrary, it is kely that fc,r the ancilent audien ce the n which waw appcmded to tlhe verb bo th convert ed its temiporal aspelct and fondness for chains of parallel utterances linked by "andn i~ . - - the basic sentence-type is the same structurally as that use :d again continued to signify "and." But, semantics aside, the general prac- and again in biblical prose. What such a style m akes mani fest in a tice of modem English translators of suppressing the "and w,hen it narrative is a series of more or less discrete event:5, or micro. .-events, is attached to a verb has the effect of changing the tempo, rh ythm, in a chain, not unlike the biblical names of begetters and begotten and construction of events in biblical narrative. Let me illustrate bv that are strung one after another in the chains of the genealogical quoting 2I narrative sequence from Gene n ver- lists. The biblical writers generally chose not to order these events sion. which reprodl~ces every "and" and every elenlent of par;ataxis, and ;hen in the ven;ion of the Revised El nglish Bib1e. ...Its n:rider- in ramified networks of causal, conceptual, or temporal subordina- - - ...... -. tion, not because hypotaxis was an unavailak ~leoption, , as the ing of these sentences is roughly interchangeable with any ot the opening verses of the second Creation story (2:4- -5) clearly demon- other mc e Jerusale the New J ewish

PAGE 8 SEPTEMBER 1997 SUNSTONE

Often the spirit is repulsed by the humorous Is it the seriousness of President Gordon B. neral service, nor was it because of in-depth experiences and jokes when the time could Hinckley that has touched the hearts of our teachings regarding the Plan of Salvation. It be devoted to teaching things of the spirit." youth and has quieted prying, investigative was because our talks about the deceased Doesn't the Church exclusively have three reporters, or is it his skillful use humor? give those affected by death an opportunity hours a week of its faithful members' time for One of my psychology professors in mor- to express their grief and to mark a closure in teaching doctrine and schooling them in the tuary college often remarked that of all reli- that life by remembering the sad occasions as scriptures? Why, then, may we not take an gions that he had conducted services for, the well as the humorous. hour to reflect on a person's life, to buoy up LDS people had the most thorough and RANDY MCDONALD the spirits of the family, and to use humor as healthy understanding of psychological prin- Washington, UT a salve in assisting friends and family in find- cipals. Furthermore, he stated that if more re- ing a closure to the deceased's life? ligions would adhere to LDS funeral ETTERS IDENTIFIED FOR PUBLICATION ARE Often we take ourselves too seriously, ei- practices, grieving families would find less LEDITED FOR CLARITY, TONE, DUPLICATION. ther in positions of authority or in our daily need for post-grief counseling. AND VERBOSITY. LETTERS ADDRESSED TO walks of life. Our Heavenly Father blessed us This wasn't because there was more AUTHORS WILL BE FORWARDED, UNOPENED. indeed with the ability to laugh as well as cry taught about the Atonement during the fu- (fax: 801/355-4043; e-rnail: [email protected])

Public:ation Society, Speisctr-one Inight choow. I begjn in the reiterate:d "and," then, pla;ys an imflortant rol le in creal:ing the middl e of verse 16, where Rebekah t)ecomes ttle subject e~f a series rhythm of the stc,ry, in phonetically F)unctuatin, g the fonvard-dri-

01 act1Lons. ving mc Dvement ccf the prose. The elirnination olf the "and " in the . . and sh~e came down to the spring anc i filled he.r jug Revised English B ible and in all its moc lem cousilns produce:s-cer- and came tlack up. And the servant ran t oward her and tainly tc 3 my ear- -an abrupt, awkwarc1 effect in the sound pattern . <,.' . . , , , .. .. .- ~ti~rear- sala, .-nay,let me sip a bit of water from your jug:- &And .. .- nf-. the-..- language,. or to put it more strictly, a kind 01 narr: she said, "Drink, my lord," and she hurried and ti13ped rhythm ia. dom her jug on one hand and let him drink. And stie let More is at stalte here th;m pleasin)5 sounds. for the hemine of him drink his fill and said, "For your camels, too. I shall the rep1~ated actio ns is in fac :t subtly b~~t significantly reduc,ed in all . . . . - draw water until they drink their fill." And she hu. the rhy:hmically deficient versions. She of course performs roughly and emptied her jug into the trough, and she ran aga the sanle acts in the different versions-politely offering 7iwater to the well to draw water and drew water for all his carnels. the stra nger, lowering her jug so that he can drink, raptd'ly going ... , And this is how the Revised English Bible, in keeping wtn tne hark----. -.sr ~d forth to the spring to bring water for the camels,.: Riit--. in... preva'iling assunnptions of most rece :nt translations, renders these the compression s, syntactical reorderings, and stop-and-start verses; in what is ; presumecI to be sen:sible modem Englisk movements of the : modemiiring version, the encounter at the well 5;he went d own to tht :spring, fi lled her jar, and cam and Ret ,ekah's act.ions are m,ade to seem rather matter-of-fac:t, how- "..--m., again. Abraham's servant hurried to meet her and said, cVcI cnemplary her impulse of hospitality This8 tends to obscure "Will you give me a little water from your jar?" "P'lease what the Hebrew highlights, which is that she i!; doing solmething drink, sir," she answered, and at once lowered her js ~ron quite extraordinary. Rebekah at the well presen ts one of the rare ,- .c.. r" hem- her hand to let him drink. When she had finished givlnu. . ---0 hihlirnl- .- -.- - - instances of the performance of an act ot --nomen#- *.-.- 1iim a drin'k, she saicI. "I shall draw water also for your ism. Th le servant 1begins by ;asking modestly to "sip a bit ol F water," c:amels unti 1 they have: had enou gh." She quickly em1)tied as thou gh all he wanted wf:re to wet his lips. B;ut we nee d to re- 1:ier jar ..into . the water trough, ar~d then hurrying aga member, as the ancient auclience sun:ly did, th .at a came I after a the well she drew water and watered all the camels. long desert journey can drink as much as twenty-live gallon,s of wa- , There is, as one would expect, some modification of biblical ter, and there are ten camels here whom Rebekah offers t o water parataxis, though it is not so extreme here as elsewhere in the "until they drink their fill." The chain of verbs tightly linke:d by all

Revised English Bible: "And she let him drink his fill" is convened the "and's" does an admirable job in conveying this sensl-P nf- - the- * .- into an introductory adverbial clause . "When s!he had finiished giv- young 1goman's h urling herself with prodigious speed intcI the se- ing hi m a drink'' (actually in conson;ince with I:he otherwise parat- quence of requirecd actions. 1Even her dialogue is scarcely a 13ause in actic King James Version) : "and she hurried" is compressed into the nanrative monlentum, bi .~tis integrated syntactically anc i rhyth- "quickly"; "and she ran again" becomes the participial "hurrying mically into the chain: "And she said, 'Drink, my lord,' rand she again." (Moves of this sort, it should be said, push translation to the hurried and tipped down her jug. . . . And she hurried and Irmptied verge of paraphrase-recasting and interpreting the original in- her jug into the trough, and she ran again to the well to draw water stead of representing it.) The most striking divergence between -and- - - dr~-- - w water for all his camels." The parallel syntax and the...- bar---. these two versic)ns is that mine has fifteen "arI&," corresponding rage of "an&," far from being the reflc zx of a "primitiven la nguage, precis;ely to fifteen occurre:nces of the particle ~vawin the Hebrew, are as a'rtfully effective in furthering thc r ends of tlne narrative as any wherc:as the Rev ised English Bible ma lnages wit11 just five. What dif- device cme could find in a sophisticated modem novelist. t3 . . - .- ference does this make? To begin with, it should be observed that the waw, whatever is claimed about its linguistic function, is by no KOBERT ALTER means an inaudible element in the phonetics of the Hebrew text: )m Genesis: Translation and Commentary we must keep constantly in mind that these narratives were com- V W Norton, New York, 1996, wiil-~~l posed to be healrd, not me rely to be c y a reader! i eye. The Sunston e welcomes submissionlsfor this st

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