Yhwh est-il un menteur? Une lecture narrative de 1 R 22,1-40

ABSTRACT: The portrayal of Yhwh that emerges from 1 Kings 22,1-40 is at first sight that of a malicious and immoral god who uses a lie to involve the king of Israel in a war that costs him his life. Deception, betrayal, dishonesty, etc., are terms used by some commentators to describe Yhwh’s behavior in this story. How can one understand such an act from a god often presented as faithful (Deut 7,9; 32,4), and whose word is truth (2 Sam 7,28)? In addition, how can we understand the death of Ahab whereas Yhwh just declared at the end of chap. 21 that the punishment of the ruler is postponed to the next generation? Some commentators attempt to justify the “deceit” of Yhwh by minimizing his responsibility in the matter or by citing extenuating circumstances of socio-historical order.

Through a narrative analysis of the story, this article asserts that the god in the story of Ahab’s death and in the previous episodes of his life is rather a patient and benevolent god, who gives the son of Omri opportunities to turn away from his sins and live.     

Autobiography and women's travel writings in nineteenth‐century France: Journeys through self‐representation

This analysis of nineteenth‐century travel literature by French and francophone women examines the various mechanisms and strategies at play in women's struggle with self‐representation within the genre of travel writing. Through the works of three women travellers, Henriette d'Angeville, Adèle Hommaire de Hell and Carla Serena, four main voices are identified as representing the plurality of self‐images women writers create in their texts: conventional autobiographical voices where they present themselves in a stereotypically feminine manner; conventional ‘neutral’ scientific voices where they take on the traditionally masculine task of science writing, thus erasing the autobiographical; differentiated scientific voices where they valorize a (private) sphere of knowledge dependent upon their personal experiences and valorized as such; and finally, differentiated autobiographical voices which undermine constraining representations of women by placing them in the valued public sphere. As a result, travel writing becomes a most important medium for women: it questions the traditional limits placed upon their writings and ways of being and allows for a complex feminine subject to emerge (often indirectly) from the texts. Such a process leads to the questioning of gender constructions as a whole.