Parataxis vs. Hypotaxis
Here’s one paragraph I enjoyed so much I had to read it outloud at the table last night. It’s from Robert Alter’s book, The Art of Biblical Narrative.
Parataxis, we should recall,* means placing the main elements of a statement in a sequence of simple parallels, connected by “and,” while hypotaxis arranges statements in subordinate and main clauses, specifying the relations between them with subordinate conjunctions like “when,” “because,” “although.” Thus, the sentence “Joseph was brought down to Egypt and Potiphar bought him” is paratactic. The same facts would be conveyed hypotactically as follows: “When Joseph was brought down to Egypt, Potiphar bought him.” (My example is actually an abbreviated version of Genesis 38:1. The first version is the way the original reads, the second version, the way some modern translations, avoiding parataxis, render it.”)
* We should?! Don’t you just love it when people write like this?
A while ago, I found some of the writing I did when I was younger and I realized nearly all my writing was paratactic. LOL. I guess most kids’ writing is. But I wonder how many kids would write “And he answered and said….” in a story, though. LOL.
emethhesed
emeth.hesed
