Getting Up and Going Down Towards a Spatial Poetics of Jonah

Abstract

This article offers a reading of the Jonah narrative using the spatial nomenclature of Edward Soja as an interpretive lens. Particular attention is given to the use of directional markers, in particular, the repeated uses of “up” and “down” with Jonah as subject. These terms carry greater significance than their simplest meanings indicate and create a way of understanding the text which goes beyond naive ideas about the fish and judgement on Nineveh.