The Book of Job in Wonderland: Making (Non)Sense of Job's Mediators

The book of Job and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland may not seem like natural bedfellows at first, but both have become literary classics by lifting a voice of protest against injustice. They employ similar techniques to mock self-assured moralists: nonce-formation, unique orthography, frame tales, episodic plot structure, and parodies of religious songs. Both culminate in a chaotic trial that remains unresolved. At every turn, these books subvert conventions of genre and even language itself. Job and Alice become curiouser and curiouser as their most foundational beliefs are challenged. In this creative new study, Ryan M. Armstrong explores mediation in Job's land of Uz with insights gained from Wonderland - Job and Alice must both learn the value of honest protest, a lesson intensified by their would-be mediators.