The Laughter of Sarah: Biblical Exegesis, Feminist Theory, and the Concept of Delight (Palgrave Pivot)

The laughter of delight has gone unheard in the Western tradition. This work brings new light to the notion, and has a consistent leitmotif: the delighted laughter of the matriarch Sarah in the book of Genesis, when she gives birth to her son Isaac. This laughter is "heard" through biblical commentaries and twentieth-century theorists of laughter. This book plays with the notion of the laughter of delight, and the way in which it has gone largely unheard in the Western interpretative tradition. The scope of the work stretches from the ancient to the modern, but it has a consistent leitmotif: the delighted laughter of the matriarch Sarah in the book of Genesis, when she gives birth to her son Isaac. This laughter is "heard" first through biblical commentaries, then through twentieth-century theorists of laughter; finally, contemporary feminist theorists are used to help realize the radical openness of the laughter of delight Front Matter....Pages i-xi Introduction: Ridebat de facto Sara ....Pages 1-10 Sarah in the Bible: A Peculiar Laugh....Pages 11-27 Sarah, Philo, and the Laugh beyond Laughter....Pages 28-39 Laughter and Power....Pages 40-53 Laughter and the Body....Pages 54-67 Laughter, Volatility, Instability....Pages 68-79 “Empty Speech”: Laughter and Language....Pages 80-96 A Time for Laughter....Pages 97-104 Back Matter....Pages 105-117 Catherine Conybeare. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.