There were times when Noah and his sons got quite hysterical. That doesn't tally with your account of things? You've always been led to believe that Noah was sage, righteous and God-fearing, and I've already described him as a hysterical rogue with a drink problem? The two views aren't entirely incompatible. Put it this way: Noah was pretty bad, but you should have seen the others. It came as little surprise to us that God decided to wipe the slate clean; the only puzzle was that he chose to preserve anything at all of this species whose creation did not reflect particularly well on its creator.

—Julian Barnes, A History of the World in 10½ Chapters

Barnes's stowaway's (a termite who was forced to hide on the Ark because Noah decided he wasn't interested in saving that species) description of Noah—and his contemporaries—reminded me of Amy-Jill Levine's opinion of him.