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Abstract Lot(s) of writing happen(s) in the Book of Esther, and writing is where words and images converge, where the visual and the verbal, fate and agency, Providence and plotting come together. In this article I grapple with visual and verbal representations of self-reflexion in the story of Esther, as depicted in the Scroll of Esther and in two paintings by Rembrandt. The paintings are used as a gloss on the Book of Esther and interpretations thereof, and Esther's feast is presented as a feast of writing, with its relation to Purim revealed in the tension between writing and randomness, agency and luck, or lot. Journal Information Poetics Today brings together scholars from throughout the world who are concerned with developing systematic approaches to the study of literature (e.g., semiotics and narratology) and with applying such approaches to the interpretation of literary works. Poetics Today presents a remarkable diversity of methodologies and examines a wide range of literary and critical topics. Several thematic review sections or special issues are published in each volume, and each issue contains a book review section, with article-length review essays. Publisher Information Duke University Press publishes approximately one hundred books per year and thirty journals, primarily in the humanities and social sciences, though it does also publish two journals of advanced mathematics and a few publications for primarily professional audiences (e.g., in law or medicine). The relative magnitude of the journals program within the Press is unique among American university presses. In recent years, it has developed its strongest reputation in the broad and interdisciplinary area of "theory and history of cultural production," and is known in general as a publisher willing to take chances with nontraditional and interdisciplinary publications, both books and journals.