The Return of the Absent Father: A New Reading of a Chain of Stories from the Babylonian Talmud (Divinations: Rereading Late Ancient Religion)

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Synopsis
The Return of the Absent Father offers a new reading of a chain of seven stories from tractate Ketubot in the Babylonian Talmud, in which sages abandon their homes, wives, and families and go away to the study house for long periods. Earlier interpretations have emphasized the tension between conjugal and scholarly desire as the key driving force in these stories. Haim Weiss and Shira Stav here reveal an additional layer of meaning to the father figure's role within the family structure. By shifting the spotlight from the couple to the drama of the father's relationship with his sons and daughters, they present a more complex tension between mundane domesticity and the sphere of spiritual learning represented by the study house.This coauthored book presents a dialogic encounter between Weiss, a scholar of rabbinic literature, and Stav, a scholar of modern Hebrew literary studies. Working together, they have produced a book resonant in its melding of the scholarly norms of rabbinics with a literary interpretation based in feminist and psychoanalytic theory.
Copyright:
2022

Book Details

Book Quality:
Publisher Quality
Book Size:
192 Pages
ISBN-13:
9780812298246
Related ISBNs:
9780812253634
Publisher:
University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc.
Date of Addition:
Copyrighted By:
Bialik Institute, Jerusalem
Adult content:
No
Language:
English
Has Image Descriptions:
No
Categories:
Nonfiction, Literature and Fiction, Religion and Spirituality, Language Arts
Submitted By:
Bookshare Staff
Usage Restrictions:
This is a copyrighted book.
Translator:
Batya Stein

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