For the previous posts in this series go here, here and here. Chapter four in Berlin’s book is an application of the issues discussed in the first three chapters to the Book of Ruth. Her aim in this chapter is simple, to “show how various aspects of poetics may occur within a unified narrative,” (83).
At the end of the last chapter I complained that Berlin was not fully analyzing narratives, but taking bits and pieces from each. This is a necessary evil at times, but I much prefer to go through a text and see how what someone is purposing actually works. In this regard chapter four absolutely satisfied my earlier complaint. Berlin was able to step through the narrative and point out where one can see the things she discussed in earlier chapters taking place over the course of a single, self-contained narrative. The chapter near perfectly accomplishes this goal. I might have preferred a layout more like a commentary, moving through the narrative by sections, rather than discussing each poetic device, thus jumping throughout the narrative. However, Berlin says from the beginning that this is not a commentary and she is kind enough to point readers to what she calls “literarily sensitive” commentaries.
There are two areas, in particular, in which I found Berlin’s comments interesting. First, her discussion of point of view in relation to characters. In essence she concludes that although Naomi is the central character of the story and the “perceptual” point of view is hers, Ruth represents the interest point of view. Berlin concludes that this makes Ruth into the hero of the story. Her examples from Ruth are convincing. This nuance in terms of point of view is really quite sophisticated and impressive.
The second area of discussion I found interesting was the function of hinneh. She argues for three functions, 1) in direct discourse registering surprise, “look!” 2) to focus and indicate point of view or a change therein, in other words to show that the contents of a particular clause are seen from the perspective of a certain character; 3) to introduce a new character, Berlin suggests translating as “at that point…” I think each of these make sense. Hinneh is one of those words that are simply fascinating. I would like to see if her three suggestions for hinneh work in narratives outside of Ruth as well.
The next post in this series will cover chapters five and six. I’m looking forward to chapter five since it covers the relationship between poetics and historical-critical methods.