David and the Deuteronomist

This reading of 2 Samuel continues the analysis of the books of Samuel begun in Samuel and the Deuteronomist. The figure of David drawn in 2 Samuel both dominates the story and provides a major challenge to readers who would view the larger narrative as a unified historiography composed by sophisticated authors and editors. The fates of Saul and David in 1-2 Samuel seem to cohere only with great difficulty, and David's own story appears to many to be a pastiche of earlier sources. Polzin's provocative new reading of 2 Samuel makes a strong case for a complex yet coherent picture of the monarchy within Israelite theology. Using the insights of Mikhail Bakhtin and other modern scholars, Polzin argues that the composition of the Deuteronomic History was a major step in the development of an important genre in world literature, and that the books of Samuel are an excellent example of the genius of ancient Israelite narrative.