Due in large measure to its unique literary genre, the Song of
Songs has been interpreted in diverse ways. "Spiritual" readers of
the poem have, for example, felt a deep-seated repugnace before its
erotic nature. This has led them to employ a variety of artificial
devices to tame it: the text has at times been altered, the
metaphors have been allegorized, similes have been labeled
grotesque, the date of composition has traveled virtually the whole
gamut of biblical chronology, the author's purpose has been reduced
to nothing, and the poem itself has become an exercise in futility.
All of this, says Andre LaCocque, supports the notion that the
issue with which any reader of the Song must come to grips is,
first and foremost, a hermeneutical one.
A reading of Song of Songs, however, must take seriously the
interpretations of this text that have influenced the lives of
synagogue and church alike. Allegorical interpretation demands too
many textual distortions and too much arbitrariness of explanation
in its support. On the other hand, a plain reading, taken in
isolation. bypasses levels of meaning that Judaism and Christianity
have acknowledged as legitimate. Reading the poem intertextually,
LaCocque contends, is a bridge to the traditional midrashic and
allegorical interpretation.
Using a naturalistic approach, LaCocque shows that the Song is
fundamentally a critique of the mores Of conformist societies and
of the dualism between body and soul prevalent in sophisticated and
popular mentalities. In addition, he insists that the author of the
poem is a woman.
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