RT Article
T1 Local Incoherence, Global Coherence?: Allusion and the Readability of Ancient Israelite Literature
JF Old Testament essays
VO 34
IS 1
SP 141
OP 164
A1 Lyons, Michael A. 1967-
LA English
PB SA ePublications
YR 2021
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1770801170
AB Does a lack of coherence always render a text “unreadable” or “unintelligible”? In this essay, I explore the relationships between three of De Beaugrande and Dressler’s standards of textuality: cohesion, coherence, and intertextuality (considered more narrowly here in the form of allusion). I consider examples of textual allusion that readers have considered surprising, incongruous, or incoherent. I conclude that in some cases, there is reason to believe ancient Israelite writers employed allusion in such a way as to create incongruity and incoherence at local text-segment levels while creating a coherent argument at larger text-segment levels. In these cases, at least, the text is still “readable.”
DO 10.17159/2312–3621/2021/v34n1a9