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  • 15 - The Song of Songs and Two Biblical Retellings

  • Edited by Calum Carmichael, Cornell University, New York
  • Book: The Cambridge Companion to the Bible and Literature
  • Published online: 13 March 2020
  • Print publication: 26 March 2020, pp 256-272

  • Summary

    A great deal of literature attempts to reimagine, rework, revamp, retrieve – in short, retell – the Bible. The growing body of work known as “biblical reception history” is devoted to studying this phenomenon. The essay continues down this productive path: first a review of the biblical Song of Songs, noting the points most salient for understanding later retellings; next, detailing what biblical retellings are and how we might define them. Turning to the essay’s focus, there is close analyses of the novel Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison (1977) and the short story “Song of Songs” by Darcey Steinke (2004) as they interact with the Bible. These stories show how biblical retellings are like a field, with some closer to the center (i.e. the Bible) than others. The essay concludes by suggesting why retellings exist in the first place.