Term:
Academic Year 2021-2022
Contact:
snir@fas.harvard.edu
Sivan Nir
Tel-Aviv University
Sivan Nir received his PhD from Tel Aviv University (2019), studying the poetics of characterization in Midrash and Jewish Medieval Bible commentaries. His interests encompass the resonance between literary representation and culture, specifically the reinterpretation of biblical narratives and characters; as well as the reciprocal transmission and transformation of ideas between Judaism, Christianity and Islam during the Middle Ages. His articles all deal with literary aspects, such as the use of metaphor, which connect medieval exegetes (both Karaite and Rabbanite) to late Midrash and to their respective cultural milieus. His first monograph, “From Typology to Mimesis: Characterization in Midrash and Medieval Jewish Bible Commentaries” is forthcoming (SBL Press). Nir’s research project The Ways of Neo Classical Medieval Midrash: Between Fiction, Redaction and Exegesis, will ascertain the poetics, ideology and reception of this rarely studied group of texts (e.g. Bereshit Rabbati).