‘Off-Centering’ in The Satanic Verses and the Book of Ezekiel: Postcolonial Response to Alienation
Most, if not all, commentaries and articles on the book of Ezekiel address the issue of the prophet's mental stability. They have attributed his erratic behavior either to actual religious experience, an array of psychological illnesses, or disorders resulting from traumatic experiences. Rather...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Sage
2014
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| In: |
Journal for the study of the Old Testament
Year: 2014, Volume: 39, Issue: 1, Pages: 55-78 |
| Further subjects: | B
The Satanic Verses
B Magical Realism B Post-colonial B Salman Rushdie B Alienation B Ezekiel B off-centering |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Parallel Edition: | Electronic
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| Summary: | Most, if not all, commentaries and articles on the book of Ezekiel address the issue of the prophet's mental stability. They have attributed his erratic behavior either to actual religious experience, an array of psychological illnesses, or disorders resulting from traumatic experiences. Rather than read his behavior as factual, his characterization in the book may have been part of a literary device to embody the feelings of disjuncture arising from the exilic conditions. Like the novel The Satanic Verses, in which Salman Rushdie fuses elements of fantasy with realism to provide the migrant's ‘off-centering’ perspective, the depiction of Ezekiel's schizophrenic-like experiences may also mirror the feeling of alienation from the Babylonian exile. Just as Rushdie uses Gibreel Farishta's dream sequences to help his character struggle to find his childhood faith, his lost homeland, the author of the book of Ezekiel uses the vision-sequences to help Ezekiel grapple with the loss of the physical Jerusalem. Consequently, by means of attacking the validity of reality while asserting the certainty of the fantastic, both authors attempt to provide an alternative version of history, undercutting the authoritative explanation of the historical events; in the case of Rushdie, Margaret Thatcher's UK immigrant policy, and the author of Ezekiel, the Babylonian interpretation of Marduk's superiority. |
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| ISSN: | 1476-6728 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal for the study of the Old Testament
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1177/0309089214551512 |