[JSOT 55 (1992) 25-37] SAMSON'S MOTHER: AN UNNAMED PROTAGONIST Adele Reinhartz Department of Religious Studies, McMaster University, Hamilton Ontario, Canada L8S 4K1 Literary theorist H.R. Jauss has argued that one of the criteria for determining the aesthetic value of a literary work is the way in which it 'satisfies, surpasses, disappoints, or disproves the expectations of its first readers'. 1 It is not, however, the work which fulfils readers' expectations but that which frustrates or disappoints them that has high aesthetic value. 2 According to this criterion, the Samson saga, Judges 13-16, is indeed, as biblical scholars have noted on other grounds, 'a superb specimen of Hebrew literary artistry', 3 perhaps even 'Israelite narrative art at its finest'. 4 Indeed, the entire saga revolves around the expectation, created by the annunciation story in Judges 13, of Samson's role in saving the Israelites from Philistine hands, the frustration of which is documented in the rest of the saga. 5 In addition to disappointing expectations created within the narrative 1. H.R. Jauss, 'Literary History as a Challenge to Literary Theory', New Literary History 2 (1970-71), p. 14. 2. Jauss, 'Literary History', p. 15. 3. J.C. Exum, 'Aspects of Symmetry and Balance in the Samson Saga', JSOT 19 (1981), pp. 3-29. 4. J.L. Crenshaw, 'The Samson Saga: Filial Devotion or Erotic Attachment?', ZAW 86 (1974), p. 470. 5. As Exum ('The Theological Dimension of the Samson Saga', VT 33 [1983], p. 35) notes, the story sets up the expectation of a saviour, an expectation which is not fulfilled in the remainder of the saga. The text itself does not condemn Samson for not living up to expectations, since the angel specifies that he will only begin the deliverance of Israel from the Philistines (13.5).