In Conversation with Jonah

Conversation Analysis, Literary Criticism, and the Book of Jonah

Raymond F. Person, Jr

Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement Series 220

Copyright © 1996 Sheffield Academic Press

Published by Sheffield Academic Press Ltd

Mansion House

19 Kingfield Road

Sheffield S11 9AS

England

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 1-85075-619-8

Contents

Preface

Abbreviations

Introduction

Chapter 1

Conversation Analysis and Narrative

1. Conversation Analysis

2. From ‘Ordinary’ Conversation to Narrated Conversation

3. Summary

Chapter 2

Commentary on the Book of Jonah from a Conversation Analytic Perspective

1. Translation

2. Commentary

3. Conclusion: The Use of Adjacency Pairs in the Jonah Narrative

Chapter 3

Narrative in the Book of Jonah

1. Plot in the Jonah Narrative

2. Character in the Jonah Narrative

3. Atmosphere in the Jonah Narrative

4. Tone in the Jonah Narrative

5. Conclusion: The Jonah Narrative

Chapter 4

Reading the Jonah Narrative: The Implied Reader

1. The Implied Reader: Interaction between Text and Reader

2. Principles Guiding the Interaction between Text and Reader

3. Who is the Implied Reader of the Jonah Narrative?

4. The Implied Reader of Jonah Reads his Narrative

Chapter 5

Reading the Jonah Narrative: Actual Readers

1. The (Almost) Universal Recognition of Jonah’s Omitted Refusal (1:3; 4:2)

2. Omitted Dialogue other than Jonah’s Account

3. The Narrator’s Satirical Tone

4. Flashback (4:1–11)

5. Conclusions Concerning the Interaction between the Text and Actual Readers

Chapter 6

Conclusion

Appendix 1

The Explaining and Heightening of Jonah’s Account (4:2)

Appendix 2

Jonah’s Omitted Answer to the Lord’s Last Question (4:10–11)

Bibliography

Index of References

Index of Authors

Preface

As to the making of many books, there is no end.

Ecclesiastes 12:12

It is a matter of competence.

Wolfgang Iser1

These two quotes represent the two opposing views I have of this work. On the one hand, I know that this work is simply one of many books that have been and will be. It certainly does not exhaust the meaning of the Jonah narrative as it interacts with its readers. Therefore, I am conscious that ‘the fictional text refuses to be sucked dry and thrown on the rubbish heap’2 and, so, defies all attempts to completely describe its meaning. Therefore, my own work is simply one attempt to aid other readings of the Jonah narrative and, indirectly through my method, other narratives. On the other hand, my motivation for writing this book emerges from an assumed degree of competence in my reading of the book of Jonah due to my particular approach. This motivation probably drives all of us who are compelled to write books that attempt to describe the interactions between texts and readers and, therefore, as expressed well in Ecclesiastes, there is no end to our writing such books.

Why do I make the assumption about my competence? This question ...