Picturing the prophet: Focalization in the 'Book of Jonah' (Biblical interpretation through multiple ideological perspectives of narrative)

This article approaches the Book of Jonah from a narratological perspective in an effort to understand the way in which the story is presented to a re ading audience. This emphasis on the presentation of the text combined with an affirmation of the inadequacy of the concept of "point of view" leads t o a consideration of focalization theory and focalization in the book of Jo nah. The theoretical positions of Genette, Rimmon-Kenan and Sanders are app lied to the Book of Jonah with a resulting consideration of instances of pe rceptual, psychological, ideological, and embedded focalization. The author concludes that the Book of Jonah is focalized in a bifurcated manner with an omniscient but ideologically uncommitted external focalizer, allowing fo r a free manipulation of time and space as well as a panoramic presentation of the psychological aspects of the narrative, and instances of embedded f ocalization, which provide a number of ideological perspectives. Ultimately , the reader is left to construct an interpretation of the text using these multiple ideological perspectives set in the context of the larger picture provided by the external focalizer.