For those who've read The Red Tent by Anita Diamante...?

Question

Did any of you feel that the book took WAY too much literary license from the Bible, and that it was so fictionalized, it was almost blasphemous?

Answer 1

I didn't think so. When you think about how the Bible is almost purely a book centered on men, it's interesting to wonder what a woman would make of an event. Keep in mind that some of the attitudes are still around. In many places in the middle east, a woman in a relationship (sexual or not) with a man her family doesn't approve of can be stoned for bringing dishonor to her family. A consensual sexual relationship can be interpreted to the families intents as rape and justify seizure of property, legal action, etc. It was an interesting interpretation of events.
The story in the Bible is a bit odd to modern eyes, that a woman is raped, but the rapist loves her, wants to marry her and is willing to pay a huge sum to get to do that. It could easily figure, if you interpret the story a certain way that Dinah and Schechem were in love. There is also some arguement about translation it seems.
I wouldn't call it blasphemous as the end result has little to do with insulting God. The Hebrews really did have a huge problem getting rid of their old gods and later with getting people not to accept whatever god happened to be the popular god of where they were. I imagine that it would have been more difficult to convince women who were not raised Hebrew to give up the gods and goddesses who protected them, especially since their society was so segregated. The men in the Bible were probably more fraught with flaws than the Bible tells us, although probably not as much as Diamant would like.

Answer 2

To add to Erin7's comments, I think it is important to realize that in Dinah's time, rape was not a crime against women. It was a crime against a woman's menfolk. Virginity was important as an economic, not as a moral or ethical, state. We think of rape now as forcing sex on a woman without her consent. Back then, the woman's wishes were secondary or nonexistent and the wishes of her father and brothers were what mattered. Even if Dinah willingly had sex with Shechem (is that his name? it's been awhile since I've read the Red Tent), it would still be considered rape if she did it without her father agreeing to the marriage.

As far as The Red Tent being blasphemous, I don;t believe that it is. The Old Testament is a collection of stories from the Hebrew oral tradition. Many of them were changed over time long before they were written down.

Answer 3

No, I didn't think anything was blasphemous in The Red Tent. It is a fine work of fiction.

Answer 4

No, it humanized the story. It was presented as fiction, and as such, I enjoyed it.