Melitzah
Melitzah (
In Hebrew the word melitzah means
Yerushalami argues: "In melitzah the sentences compounded out of quotations mean what they say; but below and beyond the surface they reverberate with associations to the original texts, and this is what makes them psychologically so interesting and valuable. In the transposition of a quotation from the original (in this case canonical) text to a new one, the meaning of the original context may be retained, altered, or subverted. In any case the original context trails along as an invisible interlinear presence, and the readers, like the writer, must be aware of these associations if they are to savor the new text to the full. A partial analogy may be found in T. S. Eliot's use of quotations in The Waste Land" (ibid., p. 72).
If he is successful in his use of melitzah, the author will arouse in the reader a particular set of images and associations which will add a certain texture and tone to what is being described—the chordal accompaniment, so to speak, to the melodic line.
See also
References
External links
- An example of the modern, secular use of melitzah is the book Significant Moments written by Gary Freedman exclusively from literary and historical texts.
Bibliography
Spence, D.P. Narrative Truth and Historical Truth: Meaning and Interpretation in Psychoanalysis (New York, W.W. Norton: 1982).
Yerushalmi, Y.H. Freud's Moses: Judaism Terminable and Interminable (New Haven, Yale University Press: 1991).