"The east" in the biblical text

(Paraphrasing from Spanish-Fausto can correct me):

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1. Is 'east' to be taken (sometimes, always?) literally in the Hebrew Bible (for example in relation to Eden, Cain, etc.)?

2. Is the directionality (whether literal or figurative) to be taken from the position of the narrator, the protagonist in the story, or perhaps Israel? Or does it vary?

3. What about cases where 'east' does not even seem to be the right direction (e.g. it seems to be south at times)?

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I admitted to Fausto that I had not thought directly about this, but immediately was excited about the possibilities his questions opened up.

Rather than quickly weigh in with my own relatively uninformed opinions on the matter, I thought first it would be good to put it to this group to see if anyone knows of any serious research on the subject. And then of course we should all also feel free to weigh in with our informed or uninformed (but still interesting) opinions.