ABSTRACT
Having examined devices of characterization in which John Bunyan predicts the novel, this chapter focuses on his use of one character in his writings: the Joseph character of Genesis. His famous Apology to The Pilgrim's Progress serves as a convenient introduction to the preacher's use of biblical characters as a means both to understanding his own life and of creating fictional characters. His use of biblical characters, both in his sermons and in his imaginative writing, served less to interpret the holy text than to interpret his own life. In Kevin Killeen's terms, Bunyan reversed the interpretative paradigm; in his practice of commentary, scriptural material was used to explicate non-theological material. When Bunyan implies a comparison between himself and Joseph the falsely accused prisoner, or Joseph who pays a heavy price for speaking the truth to power, he relates to the biblical character as the latter appears in the literal words of the biblical text.
