Bryan,
> sorry all, I said something a bit silly in a post replying to Dave W. I
> wrote:
>
> >Gen 42:8 drops us, like a
> > revisited beginning, in the middle of a story.
>
> revisited beginning in the middle? now if you can make sense out of
> that!!! ;-)
Hmm, I missed that one! (otherwise I'd be harassing you to no end
with a big grin on my face ;-)
> Reworded: With Gen 42:8's vayaker the narrator is signalling the reader,
> "Let's start again from back here," and he uses a form that suggests the
> middle of a story.
I agree that this is what the narrator is doing, but I would submit
that he uses a form that is neutral and lends itself well to this kind
of jump-back.