Transmutational spaces in Isaiah: between picture postcard and void

Abstract This article focuses on the concept of transmutation in so far as it provides a mode for reading and interpreting biblical texts. Transposing the reading order of Isaiah 34 and 35, with imagery of a peaceful land followed by that of destruction, raises fundamental questions about the relationship between hopeful and negative perspectives regarding human survival. Reading chapter 35 in the light of Walter Benjamin’s metaphorical picture postcard and chapter 34 through his concept of the void leads into discussion of the inter-relationship of loss and gain in human existence. Linking landscape-positivity with that of landscape negativity the article suggests that the transmutational reading lens operates a form of practical meliorism in which a reader is encouraged to consider optimism and pessimism as mutually valuable modes for the process of making real life choices.