“Embedded” stories: on one literary device in the Syriac memre

In the article at the first time is analyzed a special literary device in the Syriac memre – the “embedded” stories. By this device the fictitious character, in turn, becomes the narrator. On the example of the speeches in the Syriac memra “On Nineveh and Jonah”, in the Greek homily “On the Repentance of the Ninevites”, in a number of other Syrian memre we demonstrate the similarities and differences in the use of this device. For example, the author of the memra “On Nineveh and Jonah” systematically embodies his special method in the speech of the king of Nineveh: he uses the literature of Wisdom as a metatext to create the image of a wise king who gives some biblical analogies for contemporary events. From a literary point of view, these analogies are expressed in the form of “embedded” stories. In the Greek homily, there are similar biblical analogies in the speech of the Ninevites, but, unlike the memra, there is no justification for their appearance. As a result, there is a clear “gap” between the ignorance of the Ninevites and their possession of the knowledge of biblical history. From a theological point of view, both works are exceptions to the general “mainstream” of Christian writings about the Ninevites, in which is emphasized their ignorance of God contrasted with the knowledge of Jews and Christians. The measure of knowledge of the characters in all these works, therefore, becomes a full-fledged literary and theological tool. The article traces the use of the technique of the “embedded” stories in later Syriac memre, where it is reduced to the brief analogies in the form of Beispielreihe: a list of biblical examples connected by some common feature. We draw a conclusion that such literary and theological devices could be associated with the process of formation of the biblical canon: they represent a popular demonstration of the unity of the Bible in the form of a narrative.