What kind of literature is the Talmud? To answer this question, Daniel
Boyarin looks to an unlikely source: the dialogues of Plato. In these
ancient texts he finds similarities, both in their combination of
various genres and topics and in their dialogic structure. But Boyarin
goes beyond these structural similarities, arguing also for a cultural
relationship. In Socrates and the Fat Rabbis, Boyarin suggests that
both the Platonic and the talmudic dialogues are not dialogic at all.
Using Michael Bakhtin’s notion of represented dialogue and real
dialogism, Boyarin demonstrates, through multiple close readings, that
the give-and-take in these texts is actually much closer to a
monologue in spirit. At the same time, he shows that there is a
dialogism in both texts on a deeper structural level between a voice
of philosophical or religious dead seriousness and a voice from within
that mocks that very high solemnity at the same time. Boyarin
ultimately singles out Menippean satire as the most important genre
through which to understand both the Talmud and Plato, emphasizing
their seriocomic peculiarity. An innovative advancement in rabbinic
studies, as well as a bold and controversial new way of reading Plato,
Socrates and the Fat Rabbis makes a major contribution to scholarship
on thought and culture of the ancient Mediterranean.
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Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9780226069180
Publisert
2018
Utgave
1. utgave
Utgiver
Vendor
University of Chicago Press
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter