Female Influences

I was lucky enough years back to have started this class and not finish it. This situation lent to me the Book of J by Harold Bloom. This book relates to the intellectual level of Northrop Frye with a little of the subtlety of David Plotz. In this text Bloom argues that the J writer (Yahwist) may have been a female. Some of the reasoning behind this is that the J writing is very story driven instead of lists and laws like a lot of other parts in the Torah. The theory is that J might have been a high priestess in the court of King Solomon. The writings reflect the situations of the time, but they are done in a way that is not restrictive to imaginative forms of literature. I suppose Bloom is saying that most men write like accountants. Bloom makes some definitive points about why this might have been possible.

"he points out that almost all of the major female characters--from Eve through Sarai and Tamar--are stronger and more vivid than the men. And Eve, he notes, was created after Adam, and "surely J’s ironic point is that the second time around, Yahweh has learned better how the job ought to be done."

This female centered ideal about the Bible contradicts a lot of the assumptions made in class that most of the women in the bible are whores or morally weak. I would agree that the Bible does spend more time explaining the female characters than it does the male characters. The female characters do get into more mischief than other characters and usually get a vibrant explanation within the text. Bloom is unhappy however, about how much controversy this theory has created.

"If I had the book back in my hands, I don’t mind telling you or anyone else, since it’s become such a red herring in the discussion of the book, that I would suppress that [the claim that J was a woman] completely. It is a book about God and about the representation of God and about the scandal of the J text, which I’m trying to bring forward."

Bloom is one of the most famous literary critics still alive today. If he makes an assumption I would be inclined to give it the time of day. However, as he states he would rather discuss the finer details of the book than banter about who is male and who is female. Bloom discussion about the inconsistencies of the text greatly relates to the discussions in class. He just found another way of bringing it about.