Why Study the Material Text? The Case of Jewish Books
Speaker: Prof. David Stern, Harvard University
Moderator: Prof. Hao Tianhu, Zhejiang University
Time: 19-21 pm, Dec. 11, 2025
Venue: 紫金港校区东五201
Abstract:As the field of the History of the Book has grown, a sub-set of the field has developed that might be called “The Material Text,” which is devoted to inspecting the relationship of text to its material inscription, the impact of one upon the other, their connection to reading practice, and the changes that both text and material inscriptions undergo historically. Examples will be drawn from the history of the Jewish book, the speaker’s field of specialization.
David Stern is Harry Starr Professor of Classical and Modern Hebrew and Jewish Literature and Professor of Comparative Literature at Harvard University. His fields of research and teaching are classical Hebrew literature, from the Rabbinic period through the medieval; and the history of the book in the West, and the Jewish book in particular.He has written or edited fourteen books including Parables in Midrash: Narrative and Exegesis in Rabbinic Literature; Midrash and Theory: Ancient Jewish Exegesis and Contemporary Literary Studies; The Monk’s Haggadah: A Fifteenth Century Illuminated Codex from the Monastery of Tegernsee;and The Jewish Bible: A Material History. Stern is currently revising the third volume of his collected essays, Jewish Literary Cultures: The Modern and Contemporary Periods.
本次讲座同时是“东西方书籍史与文学研究工作坊”会前讲座，欢迎参加！
浙江大学教育基金会钟子逸基金资助
