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The Dialogical Hero

Mon, December 17, 3:00 to 4:30pm, Seaport Hotel & World Trade Center, Backbay 1 Complex

Abstract

The proposed presentation will focus on the internal world of biblical characters as portrayed in midrashic literature. Given the biblical reticence to portray the internal world of its characters, the rabbinic propensity to do so through various narrative techniques such as narrated and quoted monologue deserves a fuller inquiry than has been conducted in recent scholarship. Beyond the gap-filling itself, I will attempt to outline not only how and why the rabbis create new subjectivities, but also its contours. What is the nature of this internal world and its concerns, and what is the range of emotions expressed? What is the function of the reader who becomes privy to this internal world? In addition to investigating the various historical strata of rabbinic literature, I plan to carry out this investigation through a comparison with Second-Temple and Christian exemplars.

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