Plotted, Shot, and Painted

Book excerpt: '... introduces the reader to an extraordinarily rich variety of critical experiences, which far transcends the limitations of conventional biblical scholarship' (Prooftexts). This provocative collection of essays begins where Exum's earlier literary-feminist study, Fragmented Women, left off: with the questioning of the androcentric bias of the biblical text and with the aim of subverting its patriarchal perspective. It moves on to stake out new territory for feminist biblical criticism by considering what happens to biblical women in popular culture, in art, and in film and by foregrounding questions about the ways gender interests affect interpretation and about the roles and responsibilities of commentators and readers. Six essays approach gender bias in representation and in interpretation from various angles: 'Bathsheba Plotted, Shot and Painted'; 'Michal at the Window, Michal in the Movies'; 'The Hand that Rocks the Cradle'; 'Prophetic Pornography'; 'Is This Naomi?'; and 'Why, Why, Why, Delilah?''