Murphy on Genesis

The first few pages of Francesca Aran Murphy’s The Comedy Of Revelation were delightful, but her section on Genesis was disappointing. The comedy she sees in Genesis is mainly of her own making ?Eshe simply retells the biblical stories in a jazzy, smark-alecky fashion, and we’re supposed to say, presumably, “Oh, I never realized that story was funny.” Her conclusion, though, is more significant: She compares the many deceptions and disguises of Genesis to the disguises and false identities that drive Shakespearean (and other) comedy. An intriguing thought: Genesis as Wodehousean comedy.