The Art of Mystical Narrative: A Poetics of the Zohar - Hardcover

Fishbane, Eitan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0199948631 ISBN 13: 9780199948635

Publisher: OUP USA, 2019

Synopsis

In the study of Judaism, the Zohar has captivated the minds of interpreters for over seven centuries, and continues to entrance readers in the modern day. Yet despite these centuries of study, very little attention has been devoted to the literary dimensions of the text, to formal appreciation of its status as one of the great works of religious literature.

The Art of Mystical Narrative offers a critical approach to the Zohar story, seeking to explore the interplay between fictional discourse and mystical exegesis. Eitan Fishbane argues that the narrative must be understood first and foremost as a work of the fictional imagination, a representation of a world and reality invented by the thirteenth century authors of the text. He claims that the text functions as a kind of dramatic literature, one in which the power of revealing mystical secrets is demonstrated and performed for the reading audience. The Art of Mystical Narrative offers a fresh, interdisciplinary perspective on the intersections of literary and religious studies.

About this title

Review:

Fishbane's study of the interplay between fictional discourse and mystical exegesis combines the Kabbalah scholar's mastery of Jewish intellectual history with the literary critic's sensitivity to language and form. Through engagement with modern frameworks of criticism-characterization, dramatic speech, degrees of fictionality, structural framing-Fishbane draws the reader deep into the literary world of the Zohar's Iberian Jewish author(s) and readers and its unique vision of reality. The book is pioneering in that it truly appreciates the Zohar for what it wasa work. (Jonathan Decter, Edmond J. Safra Professor of Sephardic Studies, Brandeis University)

In this groundbreaking and brilliant study, Fishbane explores the poetic artistry of the Zohar, enabling us to appreciate the masterpiece of Kabbalah in radically new ways. He highlights the theatrical/performative dimension of zoharic narrative and its magical realism. Significantly, he locates the Zohar in the context of medieval Spanish literature, both Jewish and Christian. Fishbane's erudite and fascinating book demonstrates how the Zohar is simultaneously a bold mystical interpretation of the Torah and an experiment in medieval fiction. (Daniel Matt, author of the multi-volume annotated translation The Zohar: Pritzker Edition, and The Essential Kabbalah)

A work of dazzling literary scholarship. This penetrating analysis of a Judaic classic employs the full range of tools and insights available to the contemporary reader. The Zohar is a profound and mysterious work that has long attracted scholars who seek to swim in its depths. In Fishbane, it has found one who happens to write in English and knows the whole Western literary canon. That in itself is a miracle worthy of Rabbi Simeon ben Yohai. If you have Zohar in your heart, you must have Fishbane on your shelf. (Arthur Green, Irving Brudnick Professor of Jewish Philosophy and Religion and Rector of the Rabbinical School at Hebrew Colleges)

In his exquisite and wonderful book, Eitan Fishbane illuminates the ways in which the literary aspects of the Zohar are intimately woven to the core of the Zohar's mystical and interpretive insights. From Fishbane's masterful presentation we learn that the poetic and dramatic dimensions of the Zohar do not serve merely as a narrative frame to its content, but rather they embody, enact and perform the calling of the master of the mystical circle and his disciples. Fishbane's careful and brilliant readings add another dimension of depth and wonder to our encounter with the Zohar and his work is a major contribution to the ongoing exploration of one of the greatest literary and religious achievements of the Jewish tradition. (Moshe Halbertal, Gruss Professor of Law at New York University, and John and Golda Cohen Professor of Jewish Philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem)

About the Author:

Eitan P. Fishbane is Assistant Professor of Jewish Thought at the Jewish Theological Seminary.

About this edition

• Publisher: OUP USA
• Publication date: 2019
• ISBN 10: 0199948631
• ISBN 13: 9780199948635
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 532