Boer R. The Fantasy of Genesis 1-3

Biblical Interpretation 14, 309-331, 2006.In beginning the search for an adequate theory of literary production in biblical studies, this article seeks to bring together the theoretical sophistication of psychoanalytic studies of Genesis 1-3 and the historical concerns of other studies. The argument is that Genesis 1-3 may be understood in terms of fantasy, particularly in its five modes of narrative occlusion, the paradox of emergence and loss, intersubjective desire, the inherent transgression, and the empty gesture. The schema of fantasy also offers the groundwork for a theory of literary production: it takes as its starting point the idea that the reality that lies ‘behind’ the text, that seems to inform it, is highly unstable, subject to the unsettling presence of a much deeper, unknown fantastic kernel.