The Invention of Dialogue in the Bible

The Invention of Dialogue in the Bible is an examination of the Bible's use of dialogue, a feature of literary writing often seen in prose, drama, and verse. Perhaps best known for its use in novels, it reflects characters' temperaments, social and educational backgrounds, their psychology, and their relationships with their interlocutors—and its use is rarely acknowledged within the narratives of the Bible.

Comparing a wide range of dialogue specimens in the Hebrew Bible with examples from the works of writers such as Henry Fielding, George Eliot, Henry James, and E. M. Forster, author Robert Alter demonstrates that all the features we attribute to the dialogue in novels are also present in that of the Bible. Alter speculates that the principal reason for this innovation is the fact that the Bible's narratives were composed not orally, nor in verse, but in prose. While verse's formal requirements do not allow the flexibility that is crucial for novelistic dialogue, prose allows a writer to manipulate language and reshape syntax to reflect the character of the speakers, their relationships, and the narrative moment.

An insightful look into one of Western culture's most important texts, The Invention of Dialogue in the Bible will be a useful resource for anyone studying the Bible, religion, literature, or narratology.