Sometimes you read a piece of writing that grabs you by the shoulders and shakes you. This article by Stephen Skolnick, which I found through Freddie deBoer’s monthly subscriber writing roundup, is one such piece. Its subject is the meaning of “rib” in the biblical story of Eve’s creation from Adam.
I won’t spoil it, but when I reached the turn—“And the moment I saw those words, three memories collided in my mind”—I felt as though I were falling and the ground had suddenly rushed up to meet me. Given the nature of the hypothesis, only male readers are likely to share this experience.
I looked up the scholarship on this unusual interpretation of Adam’s rib, and it seems to be pretty niche. That makes the essay more interesting to me, not less. The collision of memory makes the hypothesis feel unearthed rather than articulated. The tender speculation that follows adds emotional weight, if not scholarly support. By the end, the idea is difficult to dislodge.