Gênesis 38: análise literária e história da leitura

Abstract

The main goal of this work is to apply the literary methods of narrative analysis and history of reading to the biblical narrative of Genesis 38. The narrative of Judah and Tamar was chosen because it is discarded by many as a secondary account with scandalous events. So, we began with a literary translation of the text, refined by the comparison of portuguese texts available to the brazilian reader. Then, we detailed the notions of the cultural encyclopedia that are implied in the narrative of Genesis 38. In the extensive literary analysis performed, we examined the usual narrative elements – plot, setting, characters and viewpoint – and finished by establishing the role of the narrative in its context. At last, the investigation of the history of reading this narrative focused in two moments: the biblical canon and the recent brazilian literary production – specifically, three novels and several study bibles. Since the application of these methods is still an innovative field in Brazil, we evaluated, as a last step, the efficacy of these tools to the biblical interpreter. We concluded that they are useful instruments for a better understanding of the biblical text.