“Embedded” Stories: On One Literary Device in the Syriac MemreВестник Православного Свято-Тихоновского гуманитарного университета. Серия III: ФилологияSyriaca.org: The Syriac Reference PortalThe National Endowment for the HumanitiesThe International Balzan Prize FoundationDavid A. Michelsoncbsc_adminRecord added to Zotero bycbsc_adminSyriaca.org: The Syriac Reference Portalhttp://syriaca.org/cbss/RZRVZ2X2/tei
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2025-05-20-05:00
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CREATED: This bibl record was autogenerated from a Zotero record.Sofya VladimirovnaFomicheva“Embedded” Stories: On One Literary Device in the Syriac Memrehttp://syriaca.org/cbss/RZRVZ2X2https://www.zotero.org/groups/a_comprehensive_bibliography_on_syriac_studies/items/RZRVZ2X2https://www.zotero.org/groups/4861694/items/RZRVZ2X2Вестник Православного Свято-Тихоновского гуманитарного университета. Серия III: Филология812024108-127The article is a first study of a specific literary device in the Syriac memre, i.e. the “embedded” stories. Due to this device, the fictitious character becomes the narrator. On the example of the speeches in the Syriac memra <i>On Nineveh and Jonah</i>, in the Greek homily <i>On the Repentance of the Ninevites</i>, in a number of other Syriac memre we demonstrate the similarities and differences in the use of this device. For example, the author of the memra <i>On Nineveh and Jonah</i> systematically embodies his specific method in the speech of the king of Nineveh: he uses the literature of Wisdom as a metatext to create the image of a wise king who gives some biblical parallels to contemporary events. From a literary point of view, these parallels are expressed in the form of “embedded” stories. In the Greek homily, there are similar biblical parallels in the speech of the Ninevites, but, unlike the memra, there is no justification for their appearance. As a result, there is a clear “gap” between the ignorance of the Ninevites and their possession of the knowledge of biblical history. From a theological point of view, both works are exceptions to the general “mainstream” of Christian writings about the Ninevites, which emphasises their ignorance of God contrasted with the knowledge possessed by the Jews and Christians. The measure of knowledge of the characters in all these works, therefore, becomes a full-fl edged literary and theological tool. The article traces the use of the technique of the “embedded” stories in later Syriac memre, where it is reduced to the brief parallels in the form of Beispielreihe, that is, a list of biblical examples connected by a certain common feature. The conclusion is that such literary and theological devices could be associated with the process of formation of the biblical canon: they represent a popular demonstration of the unity of the Bible in the form of a narrative.
Fomicheva, Sofya Vladimirovna. “‘Embedded’ Stories: On One Literary Device in the Syriac Memre.” Вестник Православного Свято-Тихоновского гуманитарного университета. Серия III: Филология 81 (2024): 108–27. https://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.15382/sturIII202481.108-127.
Sofya Vladimirovna Fomicheva, ‘Embedded’ Stories: On One Literary Device in the Syriac Memre,Вестник Православного Свято-Тихоновского гуманитарного университета. Серия III: Филология 81 (2024): 108–27, https://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.15382/sturIII202481.108-127.