[De]constructing the plain: The scope of Rashi’s peshat and the rise of literate mentality

Abstract

Rashi is well recognized for his exegetical innovation of the peshat approach. He appears to claim to focus on peshat, but his reliance on the midrash is undeniable. In an attempt to better understand this problem, rather than focus simply on his definition of peshat, I suggest directing attention to the readerly involvement in constructing what is plain. Among the elements that are commonly thought to construct plain sense, I stress the variables inherent in the notion of context. To set the scope of a text constitutes a basis for what feels plain. If so, the disparity between Rashi’s peshat and the modern plain sense may be put in terms of the divergent scope of text set in action. I also suggest the gradual development of peshat can be situated in the broader cultural movement in 11th- and 12th-century Europe in which literate culture began to emerge.