www射-国产免费一级-欧美福利-亚洲成人福利-成人一区在线观看-亚州成人

English 中文網 漫畫網 愛新聞iNews 翻譯論壇
中國網站品牌欄目(頻道)
當前位置: Language Tips > Normal Speed News VOA常速

Biblical bad girls get a makeover

[ 2011-04-14 14:16]     字號 [] [] []  
免費訂閱30天China Daily雙語新聞手機報:移動用戶編輯短信CD至106580009009

Men in the Bible - like Abraham, Moses, King David - are often well-developed characters playing a central role in complex stories. But, more and more authors are focusing on the women of the Bible - developing their characters and giving them a stronger voice.

The Bible, says historian Alice Bellis, is a product of its time. "Of course it was written over several thousand years so different parts of it reflect different cultural norms at the time that that part was written. But certainly much of the Hebrew Bible was written during the period in which the men had the upper hand."

Biblical bad girls get a makeover

That - she says - meant men wrote the stories in the Bible and narrated them. But Bellis, a professor of Old Testament at Howard University's Divinity School, notes that over the past two decades or so, a new genre of historical fiction has emerged, in which women are the narrators of familiar Bible stories, telling what happened from their point of view.

"I think it's a result of the women's movement and women being interested in the stories of women in the Bible and wanting to read between the lines because there are so many gaps in the text that can be filled in multiple ways and tell the stories in different ways."

Writers have re-imagined the stories of some of the most-admired women in the Bible - Sarah, Rachel, and Deborah - and some of the most reviled, including Jezebel.

"I looked at the story in the Bible and thought, 'That woman has been slandered.' I got the impression that she was a harlot, an evil woman and so on," says author Martha Shelley, who read Jezebel's story in the "Book of Kings." It tells how the Phoenician princess marries Ahab, king of northern Israel. She angers Elijah and other prophets of the Hebrew god by supporting the priests of her pagan god, Baal. After Ahab's death, her sons are driven from the throne, and Jezebel is murdered.

Fascinated by the drama, Shelley decided to discover the real woman behind the Biblical bad girl, who has come to be associated with false prophets and prostitutes. Her novel about Jezebel is called "The Throne in the Heart of the Sea."

Biblical bad girls get a makeover

To bring to life the people and customs of the Middle East of nearly 3,000 years ago, Shelley had to steep herself in the region's complex history.

"Because it took place so long ago, I had to go to Israel and to the West Bank and do what I could to research it," she says. "Then, there is a question of researching the cultural stuff. I read a lot about anthropology. I had to read books like "Mesopotamian Chemistry," another one called, "Olive Oil in the Holy Land" about how they processed olives. I wanted to know the technology."

But there was no way to know about Jezebel herself. That had to come from interpreting what her enemies had written about her - and from the author's imagination.

"She was actually very loyal to her husband and devoted to her own religion," says Shelley, who also believes Jezebel was smart, headstrong and let nothing stand in her way. In the novel, Shelley writes about Jezebel's feelings as an 10-year old girl when an unexpected rival arrives, a baby brother:

The old woman lifted the infant out of the cradle and began rubbing it with salt.

It was male. Jezebel felt betrayed. She'd never considered that her mother would present her with a rival. No, a sister would be a rival--a brother would simply assume entitlement. In one night the throne had been stripped from her.

"Well, sweetness, what do you think?"

Jezebel stretched the corners of her lips in the right direction. "Very handsome." Maybe I could poison him, the princess thought.

Historian Alice Bellis is not surprised that Jezebel and other Biblical woman are getting a second look and suggests these modern re-tellings are just as accurate as the ancient ones.

"It's pretty clear that all of the biblical narratives, which we think of as historical narratives, do not adhere to the same standards of historicity which we think of history in the 20th, 21st century," says Bellis. "That there's a looser understanding of history in the Biblical times than we have today. Some feminist scholars have looked at her story and said that her intense devotion to her god is very similar to Elijah's intense devotion to his god. And if we could step back and look at it from a little bit more neutral perspective, we would see that - as modern Western people who value tolerance - we would not really like either one of these characters because both of them are out to kill the prophets of the other one. So, they are both cut from the same cloth. But the way the Biblical narrative depicts it, Elijah is wonderful and Jezebel is terrible."

Bellis says "The Throne in the Heart of the Sea" and novels like it are part of a long tradition of finding new meaning in ancient stories, bringing Biblical characters to life for modern audiences.

read between the lines: 體會言外之意

Related stories:

發現:《最后的晚餐》中食物份量不斷增加

現存世界最古老圣經數字版面世

《圣經》小節翻譯評析

讀書大調查:美國人最愛《圣經》

(來源:VOA 編輯:崔旭燕)

 
中國日報網英語點津版權說明:凡注明來源為“中國日報網英語點津:XXX(署名)”的原創作品,除與中國日報網簽署英語點津內容授權協議的網站外,其他任何網站或單位未經允許不得非法盜鏈、轉載和使用,違者必究。如需使用,請與010-84883631聯系;凡本網注明“來源:XXX(非英語點津)”的作品,均轉載自其它媒體,目的在于傳播更多信息,其他媒體如需轉載,請與稿件來源方聯系,如產生任何問題與本網無關;本網所發布的歌曲、電影片段,版權歸原作者所有,僅供學習與研究,如果侵權,請提供版權證明,以便盡快刪除。
 

關注和訂閱

人氣排行

翻譯服務

中國日報網翻譯工作室

我們提供:媒體、文化、財經法律等專業領域的中英互譯服務
電話:010-84883468
郵件:translate@chinadaily.com.cn
 
 
主站蜘蛛池模板: 美女被cao免费看在线看网站 | 国产成人午夜性视频影院 | 国产亚洲综合精品一区二区三区 | 久久国产精品一国产精品 | 成人区精品一区二区不卡亚洲 | 在线观看免费国产成人软件 | 99在线免费视频 | 久久狠狠一本精品综合网 | 免费视频男女 | 欧美一区二区三区免费 | 欧美亚洲免费 | 114一级毛片免费 | 亚洲成人免费在线视频 | www.久久视频 | 视频三区精品中文字幕 | 欧洲美女a视频一级毛片 | 好吊妞国产欧美日韩视频 | 毛片免费网址 | 免费一级做a爰片性色毛片 免费一极毛片 | 另类自拍 | 长腿美女被啪的欲仙欲死视频 | 日本女人在线观看 | 一本大道香蕉久在线不卡视频 | 精品国产亚洲一区二区三区 | 中文字幕三区 | 成人欧美在线视频 | 黄毛片一级毛片 | 在线观看毛片视频 | 亚洲在线视频网站 | 国产aⅴ一区二区三区 | 免费a网址| 国产三级在线观看播放 | 欧美一级专区免费大片野外交 | 99久久综合国产精品免费 | 国语自产精品视频 | 久久99综合国产精品亚洲首页 | 成人午夜兔费观看网站 | 黄色毛片视频在线观看 | 午夜日b视频 | 高清欧美一级在线观看 | 日韩区在线 |