NES 4776 - [Talmud and the Art of Reading]

(crosslisted) CLASS 4637, JWST 4776, RELST 4776
(GB) (LA-AS)

Spring. Not offered 2015-2016. 4 credits.

Z. Septimus.

The Babylonian Talmud has long been viewed as the central text of post-Biblical Judaism. Yet little is known about who wrote it and when it was written. Since the Talmud is an extremely difficult text to master, its readership has therefore until recently been limited to few expert traditional scholars. Over the past fifty or so years, with the advent of translations and study guides, the Talmud has gained increasing popularity. The Talmud has long been viewed as a source for history, law, or moral lessons. But literature interacts with the cultures that produce and read it in far more nuanced and significant ways. In the past century, advances in theories of how and why to read literature have opened up new avenues for understanding what the Talmud says and, more importantly, how it works . This course will examine provocative, bizarre, and salacious Talmud passages through the lens of the evolution of the major theoretical schools of the past century. Each week we will explore a theoretical movement ( e.g. New Criticism, Formalism, Post-Stucturalism, Feminist Criticism, New Historicism , etc .) and apply their reading strategies to close readings of Talmud passages. We will simultaneously read the work of modern Talmud scholars whose reading practices align with each of these theoretical schools. All Texts will be read in translation and no previous knowledge of Talmud or Critical Theory is necessary.