Peter Lang Configurations of Rape in the Hebrew Bible: A Literary Analysis of Three Rape Narratives

In Configurations of Rape in the Hebrew Bible, Frank M. Yamada explores the compelling similarity among three rape narratives found in the Hebrew Scriptures. These three stories - the rape of Dinah (Genesis 34), the rape of an unnamed concubine (Judges 19), and the rape of Tamar, daughter of David (2 Samuel 13) - move through the same plot progression: an initial sexual violation of a woman leads to escalating violence among men, resulting in some form of social fragmentation. In this intriguing study, Yamada draws from the disciplines of literary and narrative criticism, feminist biblical interpretation, and cultural anthropology to argue for a family resemblance among these three stories about rape.