Nameless, blameless, and without shame : two cannibal mothers before a king / Gina Hens-Piazza.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hens-Piazza, Gina, 1948-

Series:

Interfaces (Collegeville, Minn.)

Interfaces

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Bible. Kings, 2nd, VI, 24-33--Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Bible.

Characters and characteristics in the Bible.

Cannibalism in the Bible.

Physical Description:

xiii, 136 pages ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Collegeville, Minn. : Liturgical Press, [2003]

Summary:

Employing three venues of literary analysis (conventional literary criticism, new literary criticism, and postmodern literary criticism), this book conducts a character study of the two cannibal mothers before a king (2 Kings 6:24-33). Training our attention upon these minor characters yields major insights. In particular, the postmodern literary assessment discloses the violence encoded in texts by the privileging of the powerful and the empowering of the privileged. Moreover, the broader ties that such a character study yields connect these cannibal mothers to portraits of other pairs of biblical mothers and their plight (the two mothers before Solomon, Sarah and Hagar, Rachel and Leah) and prompt us to search for counter-stories in the biblical tradition and in our own lives opposing the violence embedded there.

Contents:

Chapter 1 Building Character 3

Chapter 2 A Story Within Stories 25

Chapter 3 Literary Criticism and the Tale of Two Cannibal Mothers 47

Chapter 4 A Postmodern Literary Study of Two Cannibal Mothers Before a King 77

Chapter 5 Stories Speak of Other Stories 95

Chapter 6 Character, Counter Texts, and Conclusion 117.

Notes:

"A Michael Glazier book."

Includes bibliographical references (pages 135-136).

ISBN:

0814659616

OCLC:

50844426