Irony and Meaning in the Hebrew Bible 
Carolyn J. Sharp
Indiana University Press
<P>Was God being ironic in commanding Eve not to eat fruit from the tree of                  wisdom? Carolyn J. Sharp suggests that many stories in the Hebrew Scriptures may be                  ironically intended. Deftly interweaving literary theory and exegesis, Sharp                  illumines the power of the unspoken in a wide variety of texts from the Pentateuch,                  the Prophets, and the Writings. She argues that reading with irony in mind creates a                  charged and open rhetorical space in the texts that allows character, narration, and                  authorial voice to develop in unexpected ways. Main themes explored here include the                  ironizing of foreign rulers, the prostitute as icon of the ironic gaze,                  indeterminacy and dramatic irony in prophetic performance, and irony in ancient                  Israel's wisdom traditions. Sharp devotes special attention to how irony                  destabilizes dominant ways in which the Bible is read today, especially when it                  touches on questions of conflict, gender, and the Other.</P>