Then, guitar rifts so distinct that they could only be of Brooks and Dunn, confirmed by the lyrics, “She blew through the door like TNT. Put her hand on her hip and point a finger at me. Said: I’m a whiskey drinkin’, cowboy chasin’, helluva time. I like Kenny, Keith, Allan and Patsy Cline. I’m a full grown, queen bee, lookin’ for honey. Ha-ooh-hoo! aw, play somethin’ country!”
Thus the results of arranging your iTunes catalog by artist when your professor’s name begins with “Bro”.
Most are wondering what the heck Brooks & Dunn has to do with the nature of Narrative Criticism. And some of you are just wondering why the heck I have a country song mixed into my playlist. They really do have something to do with each other. No, really! This is not just a bad excuse for twang mixed in with Brownie Mary, Morcheeba, Jack Johnson, Depeche Mode, Bud Powell and the Dub Pistols.
One of the many components of narrative criticism is the concept of various narrative bits having purpose in some composed bit of literature. In other words, the plot actually means something and it is placed there, right there, specifically, with purpose. The characters are there for a reason, just as they are presented. The woman sits, spinning in the corner, right when she does, right where she does, just because she is meant to do so in that time, place and part of the story. Same could be said of the whiskey drinking, cowboy chasing, hell of a time so gracefully described with such eloquence by B&D.
Now, who decides all of that can be rather difficult to understand – a bit like holding wet, melting jello. Is it the author who decides the meaning? How about the deliverer of the story – the narrator? Or maybe the hearer gets to throw his or her two cents in, bringing experience and preconceptions and all of humanity to his or her understanding? Certainly the Queen Bees of Country have an appreciation for storming a bar that I would not (although I may be able to draw some parallel to arriving at a retro rewind dance party but it may depend on the musical sub genre and the tightness of my vinyl pants…).
Complicate matters by the literary breakdown of such things as plot (a woman who loves country?), theme (the honkytonk lifestyle?), style (impassioned), figures of speech (yes, “hell of a time” does get around), symbolism (Queen Bee), motifs (best I can do here is neon beer lights… sorry), characterizations (yes, big hair), repetition (I think she wants them to play something country but I cannot be sure), point of view (honestly, you have to ask?), foreshadowing (depending on preconceptions and or theme I might suggest…), speed of time in narrative (they did say TNT…) and all the rest of the goodies that make the literary types do a happy dance in their dreams, their pencils twirling across multi coloured pieces of paper that miraculously turn into origami birds flying across a sea to depict the freedom of the written word. (Somewhere MC Echer is delighted.)All this is delightful when deconstructing some meaning in The Notebook. But when it comes to a text so great as The Word, we run the risk of getting it all wrong. And everyone knows when we get it wrong in religion. It leads to war.
Not to add any undue pressure to my already confused, stressed out and hazy classmates, but get the interpretation of the Bible wrong and you will start a war. As Christians, we generally consider this to be a bad thing.
Machiavelli would be so disappointed.
After years of batting Hermeneutics around like a cat toy, because, you know, playing with toys is grounds for sound academic conclusions, I have decided that the best approach is to tear apart the Bible in a way that considers ALL appropriate criticisms to that given bit of text; consider the genres, the history, the socio economic influences, purposes, intentions, messages, meanings, symbolism and all the rest as appropriate to what you have at hand (or in this case, eye).
In other words, read it.
Image by Roman Diaz
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