{"id":1654,"date":"2020-01-19T17:15:56","date_gmt":"2020-01-19T22:15:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/john-reeves\/?page_id=1654"},"modified":"2020-04-06T16:45:08","modified_gmt":"2020-04-06T20:45:08","slug":"course-syllabus-for-jewish-fantasy","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/john-reeves\/course-materials\/rels-4000-5000-jewish-fantasy-literature\/course-syllabus-for-jewish-fantasy\/","title":{"rendered":"Course syllabus for Jewish Fantasy"},"content":{"rendered":"

RELS 4000\/5000
\nJewish Fantasy Literature
\nTR 1:00-2:15
\nDr. John C. Reeves
\n204B Macy
\nOffice hours: T 2:30-3:30; or by appointment
\njcreeves@uncc.edu
\nhttps:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/john-reeves\/<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2018Do not believe anything that is written in the Chronicles of Moses<\/em>! More generally, I say to you that any writing not authored by a prophet or a Sage reliant upon tradition is unreliable, and also if it contains things which contradict established knowledge, such as the Book of Zerubbabel<\/em> or the Book of Eldad ha-Dani<\/em> or something similar to them!\u2019 \u2013 Abraham Ibn Ezra, Perush ha-Torah<\/em> to Exod 2:22.<\/p>\n

Course description:<\/strong> Rebel angels. A red-headed monster born from a rock. Wizards who fly through the air. A seductive succubus. Outwitting the Angel of Death. Protective talismans. Flesh-eating giants. The walking dead. A wonder-working shepherd\u2019s crook. Beasts whose tears pool into raging torrents of fire. Curing a flatulent princess. What connects these different fabulous characters, objects, and motifs? They all are part of the constructed dreamscape of Jewish imaginative literature emanating from late antiquity and the Middle Ages. This course studies a representative sampling of tales and treatises that foreground the fantastic, the monstrous, and the uncanny in a variety of postbiblical Jewish texts. Attention will also be devoted to the methodological issues involved in learning to appreciate midrash and to think with demons, monsters, and other weird and wonderful stuff. All the texts we study will be in English; special accommodations will be made for those who want to study the texts in their original language(s).<\/p>\n

Texts:<\/strong> Web links to some of the primary texts we will read are available on the course website. Other texts will be distributed by the instructor either in class or electronically as needed. The following textbook must be purchased:<\/p>\n

Howard Schwartz, Tree of Souls: The Mythology of Judaism<\/em> (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004).<\/p>\n

Course requirements:<\/strong><\/p>\n

a. Readings<\/em>. The nature of this course entails a significant amount of close reading and reflection both within and outside of class. Students are responsible for completing the reading assignments (outlined below or assigned in class) in a timely manner. Every student must read and critically engage portions of Bible, other scriptural and parascriptural works, commentaries, testimonia, folktales, myths, legends, and travel narratives which have been englished from texts originally written in Hebrew, Aramaic, Syriac, Mandaic, Greek, Latin, Coptic, Arabic, Persian, Ethiopic, and various medieval European vernaculars. Critical engagement with a select set of secondary readings authored by modern theorists, analysts, and historians is also required.<\/p>\n

b. Reaction papers<\/em>. Every student<\/u> will prepare a reaction paper (1-2 pages) for each primary source that we will be covering in class. They should contain (1) a concise distillation or summary of the assigned piece, and (2) the formulation of 2-3 questions which were raised by the piece while reading and contemplating it. It is these questions which will help drive our classroom discussions. Expect the instructor to ask any student to initiate our collective examination and discussion of the assignment. The instructor\u2019s evaluation of the student\u2019s collective reaction paper performance (using a scale check+ = A-; check = C+; check- = D) accounts for 75% of the course grade.<\/p>\n

c. Individual involvement<\/em>. Almost perfect attendance (see below) is an essential requirement for this course. Each class meeting builds upon the knowledge gained during previous meetings. Moreover, in-class discussion and analysis comprises a significant portion of every class meeting. Preparation for every class usually involves the completion of a series of assigned readings and\/or written assignment(s). Students are expected to contribute in an informed manner<\/u>[1]<\/a> to the public analysis and discussion of any assigned topic, and the instructor reserves the right to administer additional writing assignments or even occasional unannounced \u2018pop-quizzes\u2019 should he deem the situation so warrants. The instructor\u2019s assessment of one\u2019s attendance, apparent class preparation, oral participation, any written contributions apart from the reaction papers, and performance on pop-quizzes will collectively constitute 25% of the final course grade.<\/p>\n

d. Zakhor<\/em> (Remember!): Mastery of the assigned readings and diligent class attendance are necessary prerequisites for the successful completion of this course. Each student is responsible for all lectures, class discussions, assignments, and announcements, whether or not he\/she is present when they occur.<\/p>\n

Miscellaneous information:<\/strong><\/p>\n

a. The grading scale used in this course is as follows:<\/p>\n

91-100\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 =\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 demonstrable mastery of material; can creatively synthesize<\/p>\n

81-90 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 B\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 =\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 some demonstrable proficiency in control of material & analysis<\/p>\n

71-80 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 C\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 =\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 satisfactory performance of assignments; little or no analysis<\/p>\n

61-70 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 D\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 =\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 inadequate and\/or faulty understanding of material<\/p>\n

0-60 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 F\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 =\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 unacceptable work<\/p>\n

Graduate students are graded using a scale of A, B, C, and U. A grade of \u2018C\u2019 for a graduate student is equivalent to that of a \u2018D\u2019 for undergraduates; \u2018U\u2019 signals unacceptable graduate-level work.<\/p>\n

b. One of the requirements of this course is to complete the work of the course on time. Sometimes there are legitimate reasons for late work\u2014an illness or other emergency. \u2018Emergency,\u2019 however, does not include your social involvements, travel plans, job schedule, disk, wi-fi, and\/or printer failures, the state of your love life, your obligations to other courses, or general malaise over the state of the world. The world has been in a mess as long as anyone can remember, and most of the world\u2019s work is done by people whose lives are a mass of futility and discontent. If you haven\u2019t learned yet, you had better learn now to work under the conditions of the world as it is. Therefore:<\/strong><\/p>\n

1) All examinations will take place only upon their announced dates and times. In other words (and please note well!), there will be NO MAKEUP EXAMS scheduled<\/u>. All missed quizzes, unwritten papers, and neglected exercises will be averaged as a 0 in the computation of the course grade. There is no such thing as a \u2018make-up pop quiz.\u2019 No exceptions will be considered or granted.<\/p>\n

2) All papers and written exercises are due on the dates scheduled in the syllabus, or on the date announced by the instructor in class (usually, the next class meeting). \u2018Late\u2019 submissions of papers (not homework exercises\u2014see below) bear the following penalties: one day late\/one letter grade; two days late\/two letter grades; three or more days late\/F. Please note: these \u2018days\u2019 are calendar days, not class meeting days<\/u>. For accounting purposes, letter grades bear the following values: A=95; A-=92; B=85; C+=78; C=75; D=65; F=30. A paper or written exercise that is not typed automatically receives the grade F, as do those typed papers which violate the required parameters or which the instructor deems physically unacceptable and\/or grammatically incomprehensible.<\/p>\n

3) Reaction papers are due on the date announced by the instructor in class. Since we will normally discuss these exercises together in class on that date, it would clearly be unfair to those who submitted their work on time for me to accept \u2018late\u2019 work from those who were privy to our in-class discussion but who neglected to do the assignment. Hence I will not accept \u2018late\u2019 reaction paper submissions (even from those of you who may be physically absent during our discussion); however, \u2018early\u2019 submissions (i.e., before the start of class) are always welcome and will receive full credit.<\/p>\n

4) Since your diligent physical participation is critical for the success of this course, attendance at class meetings will be monitored by the instructor. One or two absences, while regrettable, are unexceptional; three (3) is the limit of tolerability. Each successive absence lowers the Individual Involvement<\/em> component of your assessment by one letter grade; seven (7) or more earns an automatic F in that component of your final grade. Please note that\u2014with the exception of religious holidays\u2014the instructor does not distinguish \u2018excused\u2019 from \u2018unexcused\u2019 absences. Unsanctioned late arrivals and early departures will be tallied as absences.<\/p>\n

5) Policy regarding Audits<\/u>: the instructor expects auditors (whether formally enrolled as such or not) to meet the same attendance, preparation, and oral participation standards as those students who are taking the course for credit. The instructor does not expect auditors to prepare and submit any written assignments.<\/p>\n

c. Assistance and solicitation of criticism is your right as a member of the class. It is not a privilege to be granted or withheld. Do not hesitate to request it nor wait too late in the course for it to be of help.<\/p>\n

ROUGH COURSE OUTLINE<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. Introductory matters regarding terminology, definitions, and methodology
\nRequired:<\/strong>
\nElliot K. Ginsburg, \u201cThe Resonances and Registers of Jewish Myth,\u201d in Schwartz, Tree of Souls<\/em>, xxxv-xlii.
\nSchwartz, \u201cIntroduction,\u201d Tree of Souls<\/em>, xliii-lxxxvi; 525-28.
\nJames L. Kugel, \u201cTwo Introductions to Midrash,\u201d Prooftexts<\/em> 3 (1983): 131-55.<\/p>\n

2. The Other World
\na. Cosmological lore \u2013 Ma\u2018aseh Bereshit<\/em> material like Midrash Konen<\/em> and kindred texts
\nb. Tours of Heaven and Hell \u2013 Re\u2019uyot Ye\u1e25ezqel<\/em>; Ma\u2018aseh R. Joshua b. Levi<\/em>, Vision of Isaiah<\/em>
\nc. Legends about Metatron and other angelic beings \u2013 from Cairo Geniza, 3 Enoch
\nd. Materials on Satan\/Samael and other \u2018bad actors\u2019
\nRequired:<\/strong>
\nSchwartz, Tree of Souls<\/em>, 1-124; 144-51; 158-279.<\/p>\n

3. This-Worldly Characters and Themes
\na. Adam legends: Son of Samael, Adam\u2019s demon bride, Pirqe R. El<\/em>. \u00a7\u00a713-14; \u2019Aboth R. Natan<\/em> \u00a71
\nb. 1 En<\/em>. 6-16; Jub<\/em>. 4-5; Midrash of Shem\u1e25azai and \u2018Azael<\/em>
\nc. Ma\u2018aseh Abraham<\/em>
\nd. Chronicles of Moses<\/em>
\ne. Ascension of Moses to receive the Torah \u2013 Ma\u2018yan \u1e24okmah<\/em>
\nf. \u2018Death of Moses\u2019 legend from Deut. Rab<\/em>. 11
\ng. Jeremiah\/Ben Sira \u2018Frankenstein\u2019 legend
\nRequired:<\/strong>
\nSchwartz, Tree of Souls<\/em>, 124-44; 155-58; 279-86; 328-34; 372-94; 431-62.<\/p>\n

4. The World to Come
\na. Apocalypse texts featuring Armilos
\nb. Apocalypse texts featuring Messiah b. Joseph and Messiah b. David
\nc. Resurrecting the dead \u2013 Pesiqta \u1e24adata<\/em>
\nd. Eldad ha-Dani \u2018children of Moses\u2019 legends
\nRequired:<\/strong>
\nSchwartz, Tree of Souls<\/em>, 472-523.<\/p>\n

SUPPLEMENTAL BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR RELS 4000\/5000<\/strong><\/p>\n

In response to student requests for recommendations regarding useful and enlightening discussions of certain topics, themes, and personalities that are presented in class and\/or readings, I offer the following suggestions for further study at the student\u2019s leisure. I confine myself to materials which I myself have used with profit. Not all of these may be currently available at Atkins Library.<\/p>\n

It is often helpful for the student to begin with appropriate articles in the standard Bible dictionaries. The most up to date are The New Interpreter\u2019s Dictionary of the Bible<\/em> (5 vols.; ed. Katherine Doob Sakenfeld; Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2006-09) and The Anchor Bible Dictionary<\/em> (6 vols.; New York: Doubleday, 1992). Dated but still reliable are The Interpreters\u2019 Dictionary of the Bible<\/em> (4 vols.) and its Supplementary Volume<\/em> (ed. George A. Buttrick; Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1962 & 1976), and the Harper\u2019s Bible Dictionary<\/em> (ed. Paul J. Achtemeier; San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1985). Highly recommended are the relevant articles in the new Encyclopaedia Judaica<\/em> (22 vols.; Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA\/Thomson Gale, 2007), the Encyclopaedia of Islam<\/em> (2d ed.; 11 vols.; Leiden: Brill, 1954-2002), the Encyclopaedia of the Qur\u2019\u0101n<\/em> (6 vols.; ed. Jane Dammen McAuliffe; Leiden: Brill, 2001-06), and The Qur\u2019\u0101n: An Encyclopedia<\/em> (ed. Oliver Leaman; London and New York: Routledge, 2006).<\/p>\n

The bibliographies supplied by Schwartz in his Tree of Souls<\/em> and in the articles consulted in the above reference works are a good starting place for deeper study. Of well nigh unparalleled importance for the history of traditional scriptural interpretation are the notes volumes for Louis Ginzberg, The Legends of the Jews<\/em> (7 vols.; Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society, 1909-38).<\/p>\n

In addition, you can consult the following more specialized studies, arranged roughly according to category:<\/p>\n

Myth, Legend, and Folklore Studies Pertinent to the Jewish Fantastic and Monstrous<\/strong><\/p>\n

Antti A. Aarne and Stith Thompson, The Types of the Folktale: A Classification and Bibliography<\/em> (Helsinki: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia, 1961).<\/p>\n

William Bascom, \u201cThe Forms of Folklore: Prose Narratives,\u201d Journal of American Folklore<\/em> 78 (1965): 3-20.<\/p>\n

Dan Ben-Amos, ed., Folktales of the Jews<\/em> (3 vols. to date; Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 2006- ).<\/p>\n

______, \u201cJewish Folk Literature,\u201d Oral Tradition<\/em> 14 (1999): 140-274.<\/p>\n

Micha Joseph Bin Gorion, Mimekor Yisrael: Classical Jewish Folktales<\/em> (3 vols.; trans. I. M. Lask; Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana University Press, 1976).<\/p>\n

Alan Dundes, Holy Writ as Oral Lit: The Bible as Folklore<\/em> (Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 1999).<\/p>\n

Michael Fishbane, Biblical Myth and Rabbinic Mythmaking<\/em> (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003).<\/p>\n

______, The Exegetical Imagination: On Jewish Thought and Theology<\/em> (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1998).<\/p>\n

______, ed., The Midrashic Imagination: Jewish Exegesis, Thought, and History<\/em> (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1993).<\/p>\n

James George Frazer, Folk-lore in the Old Testament: Studies in Comparative Religion, Legend and Law<\/em> (3 vols.; London: Macmillan & Co., 1918).<\/p>\n

Theodor H. Gaster, Myth, Legend, and Custom in the Old Testament<\/em> (New York: Harper & Row, 1969). An updating of Frazer\u2019s classic work.<\/p>\n

Louis Ginzberg, Legends of the Jews<\/em> (see above).<\/p>\n

Hermann Gunkel, The Folktale in the Old Testament<\/em> (trans. Michael D. Rutter; Sheffield: Almond Press, 1987).<\/p>\n

______, The Legends of Genesis<\/em> (trans. W. H. Carruth; Chicago: Open Court, 1901). A translation of the \u2018Introduction\u2019 to his magisterial commentary on Genesis.<\/p>\n

Galit Hasan-Rokem and Ithamar Gruenwald, eds., Louis Ginzberg\u2019s Legends of the Jews: Ancient Jewish Folk Literature Reconsidered<\/em> (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2014).<\/p>\n

Heda Jason, \u201cStudy of Israelite and Jewish Oral and Folk Literature: Problems and Issues,\u201d Asian Folklore Studies<\/em> 49 (1990): 69-108.<\/p>\n

Heda Jason and Aharon Kempinski, \u201cHow Old Are Folktales?\u201d Fabula<\/em> 22 (1981): 1-27.<\/p>\n

Susan Niditch, Folklore and the Hebrew Bible<\/em> (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1993).<\/p>\n

______, Oral World and Written Word: Ancient Israelite Literature<\/em> (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1996).<\/p>\n

______, A Prelude to Biblical Folklore: Underdogs and Tricksters<\/em> (San Francisco, 1987; repr., Urbana, Ill.: University of Illinois Press, 2000).<\/p>\n

Axel Olrik, \u201cEpic Laws of Folk Narrative,\u201d in Alan Dundes, ed., The Study of Folklore<\/em> (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1965), 129-41; also in Alan Dundes, ed., International Folkloristics: Classic Contributions by the Founders of Folklore<\/em> (Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 1999), 83-97.<\/p>\n

______, Principles for Oral Narrative Research<\/em> (trans. Kirsten Wolf and Jody Jensen; Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana University Press, 1992). See especially his Appendix A \u2018The Patriarchal History of Israel\u2019 (pp. 116-33).<\/p>\n

V[ladimir]. Propp, Morphology of the Folktale<\/em> (trans. Laurence Scott; Austin: University of Texas Press, 1968).<\/p>\n

John C. Reeves, \u201cResurgent Myth: On the Vitality of the Watchers Traditions in Late Antiquity,\u201d in Angela Kim Harkins, Kelley Coblentz Bautch, and John C. Endres, S.J., eds., The Fallen Angels Traditions: Second Temple Developments and Reception History<\/em> (Catholic Biblical Quarterly Monograph Series 53; Washington, D.C.: Catholic Biblical Association, 2014), 94-115.<\/p>\n

______, \u201cSome Parascriptural Dimensions of the \u2018Tale of H\u0101r\u016bt wa-M\u0101r\u016bt\u2019,\u201d Journal of the American Oriental Society<\/em> 135 (2015): 817-42.<\/p>\n

John C. Reeves and Annette Yoshiko Reed, Enoch from Antiquity to the Middle Ages, Volume I: Sources from Judaism, Christianity, and Islam<\/em> (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018).<\/p>\n

Gershom Scholem, \u201cKabbalah and Myth,\u201d in idem, On the Kabbalah and Its Symbolism<\/em> (trans. Ralph Manheim; New York: Schocken Books, 1965), 87-117.<\/p>\n

Dina Stein, \u201cLet the \u2018People\u2019 Go? The \u2018Folk\u2019 and their \u2018Lore\u2019 as Tropes in the Reconstruction of Rabbinic Culture,\u201d Prooftexts<\/em> 29 (2009): 206-41.<\/p>\n

David Stern and Mark Jay Mirsky, Rabbinic Fantasies: Imaginative Narratives from Classical Hebrew Literature<\/em> (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990).<\/p>\n

Stith Thompson, The Folktale<\/em> (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1977).<\/p>\n

______, Motif-Index of Folk-Literature<\/em> (6 vols.; Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger, 1955-58).<\/p>\n

Francis Lee Utley, \u201cThe Bible of the Folk,\u201d California Folklore Quarterly<\/em> 4 (1945): 1-17.<\/p>\n

Eli Yassif, The Hebrew Folktale: History, Genre, Meaning<\/em> (trans. Jacqueline S. Teitelbaum; Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1999).<\/p>\n

On the Strange, the Fantastic, and the Uncanny<\/strong><\/p>\n

Persis Berlekamp, Wonder, Image, and Cosmos in Medieval Islam<\/em> (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2011).<\/p>\n

Seeger A. Bonebakker, \u201cSome Medieval Views on Fantastic Stories,\u201d Quaderni di Studi Arabi<\/em> 10 (1992): 21-43.<\/p>\n

Jorge Luis Borges, The Book of Imaginary Beings<\/em> (New York: Dutton, 1969).<\/p>\n

Peter Brown, “Society and the Supernatural: A Medieval Change,” Daedalus<\/em> 104 (1975): 133-51.<\/p>\n

Caroline Walker Bynum, Metamorphosis and Identity<\/em> (New York: Zone Books, 2001).<\/p>\n

______, \u201cWonder,\u201d The American Historical Review<\/em> 102 (1997): 1-26.<\/p>\n

Brian R. Clack, \u201cAt Home in the Uncanny: Freud\u2019s Account of das Unheimliche<\/em> in the Context of His Theory of Religious Belief,\u201d Religion<\/em> 38 (2008): 250-58.<\/p>\n

Sigmund Freud, \u201cThe Uncanny\u201d (1919) = \u201cDas Unheimliche,\u201d Imago<\/em> 5 (1919): 297-324. Translated by Alix Strachey and published in Sigmund Freud, Collected Papers, Volume IV<\/em> (repr., London: Hogarth Press, 1957), 368-407; James Strachey, ed., The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud<\/em> (24 vols.; London: The Hogarth Press, 1953-74), 17:217-56; also Philip Rieff, ed., Studies in Parapsychology<\/em> (New York: Collier, 1963).<\/p>\n

Syrinx von Hees, \u201cThe Astonishing: A Critique and Re-reading of \u2018A\u011f\u0101\u2019ib Literature,\u201d Middle Eastern Literatures<\/em> 8 (2005): 101-120.<\/p>\n

Geraldine Heng, Empire of Magic: Medieval Romance and the Politics of Cultural Fantasy<\/em> (New York: Columbia University Press, 2003).<\/p>\n

Jacques Le Goff, \u201cThe Marvelous in the Medieval West,\u201d in idem, The Medieval Imagination<\/em> (trans. Arthur Goldhammer; Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1988), 27-44.<\/p>\n

H. P. Lovecraft, Supernatural Horror in Literature<\/em> (repr., New York: B. Abramson, 1945).<\/p>\n

Eric S. Rabkin, The Fantastic in Literature<\/em> (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1976).<\/p>\n

David Rotman, “At the Limits of Reality: The Marvelous in Medieval Ashkenazi Hebrew Folktales,” Jewish Studies Quarterly<\/em> 20 (2013): 101-28.<\/p>\n

Tzvetan Todorov, The Fantastic: A Structural Approach to a Literary Genre<\/em> (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1973).<\/p>\n

Claire Whitehead, ed., The Fantastic<\/em> (Ipswich, Mass.: Salem Press, 2013).<\/p>\n

Travis Zadeh, \u201cThe Wiles of Creation: Philosophy, Fiction, and the \u2018Aj\u0101\u2019ib<\/em> Tradition,\u201d Middle Eastern Literatures<\/em> 13 (2010): 21-48.<\/p>\n

On Monsters and Monster Theory<\/strong><\/p>\n

Domenico Agostini, \u201cHalf-human and Monstrous Races in Zoroastrian Tradition,\u201d Journal of the American Oriental Society<\/em> 139 (2019): 805-17.<\/p>\n

Stephen T. Asma, On Monsters: An Unnatural History of our Worst Fears<\/em> (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009).<\/p>\n

Robert Bartlett, The Natural and the Supernatural in the Middle Ages<\/em> (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008). Note especially chapter 3: \u201cDogs and Dog-heads: The Inhabitants of the World\u201d (pp. 71-110).<\/p>\n

Timothy K. Beal, Religion and its Monsters<\/em> (London & New York: Routledge, 2002).<\/p>\n

Bettina Bildhauer and Robert Mills, ed., The Monstrous Middle Ages<\/em> (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2003).<\/p>\n

Mary B. Campbell, The Witness and the Other World: Exotic European Travel Writing, 400-1600<\/em> (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1988).<\/p>\n

Georges Canguilhem, \u201cMonstrosity and the Monstrous,\u201d Diogenes<\/em> 10 (1962): 27-42.<\/p>\n

Jeffrey Jerome Cohen, \u201cMonster Culture (Seven Theses),\u201d in Monster Theory: Reading Culture<\/em> (ed. Jeffrey Jerome Cohen; Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1996), 3-25.<\/p>\n

Lorraine Daston and Katherine Park, \u201cMonsters: A Case Study,\u201d in idem, Wonders and the Order of Nature, 1150-1750<\/em> (New York: Zone Books, 1998), 173-214.<\/p>\n

John Block Friedman, The Monstrous Races in Medieval Art and Thought<\/em> (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1981).<\/p>\n

David D. Gilmore, Monsters: Evil Beings, Mythical Beasts, and All Manner of Imaginary Terrors<\/em> (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2002).<\/p>\n

Marie-H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Huet, Monstrous Imagination<\/em> (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1993).<\/p>\n

Iris Idelson-Shein and Christian Wiese, eds., Monsters and Monstrosity in Jewish History: From the Middle Ages to Modernity<\/em> (London and New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2019).<\/p>\n

Peter Jackson, \u201cChristians, Barbarians and Monsters: The European Discovery of the World Beyond Islam,\u201d in Peter Linehan and Janet L. Nelson, eds., The Medieval World<\/em> (London and New York: Routledge, 2001), 93-110.<\/p>\n

Suzanne Lewis, \u201cEncounters with Monsters at the End of Time: Some Early Medieval Visualizations of Apocalyptic Eschatology,\u201d Different Visions<\/em> 2 (2010). You can access this article at http:\/\/www.differentvisions.org\/Issue2PDFs\/Lewis.pdf<\/a> .<\/p>\n

Asa Simon Mittman and Peter J. Dendle, eds., The Ashgate Research Companion to Monsters and the Monstrous<\/em> (Burlington, Vt.: Ashgate Publishing Company, 2012).<\/p>\n

Marina M\u00fcnkler, \u201cExperiencing Strangeness: Monstrous Peoples on the Edge of the Earth as Depicted on Medieval Mappae Mundi<\/em>,\u201d Medieval History Journal<\/em> 5 (2002): 195-222.<\/p>\n

James S. Romm, \u201cDragons and Gold at the Ends of the Earth: A Folktale Motif Developed by Herodotus,\u201d Marvels & Tales<\/em> 1 (1997): 45-54.<\/p>\n

______, The Edges of the Earth in Ancient Thought: Geography, Exploration, and Fiction<\/em> (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992).<\/p>\n

Alauddin Samarrai, “Beyond Belief and Reverence: Medieval Mythological Ethnography in the Near East and Europe,” Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies<\/em> 23 (1993): 19-42.<\/p>\n

Walter Stephens, Giants in Those Days: Folklore, Ancient History, and Nationalism<\/em> (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1989).<\/p>\n

Debra Higgs Strickland, \u201cAntichrist and the Jews in Medieval Christian Art and Protestant Propaganda,\u201d Studies in Iconography<\/em> 32 (2011): 1-50.<\/p>\n

______, \u201cIntroduction: The Future is Necessarily Monstrous,\u201d Different Visions<\/em> 2 (2010): 1-13.<\/p>\n

______, Saracens, Demons, and Jews: Making Monsters in Medieval Art<\/em> (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2003).<\/p>\n

J. R. R. Tolkien, \u201cBeowulf: The Monsters and the Critics,\u201d Proceedings of the British Academy<\/em> (1936). Reprinted in J. R. R. Tolkien and Christopher Tolkien, eds., The Monsters and the Critics, and Other Essays<\/em> (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1984).<\/p>\n

Lisa Verner, The Epistemology of the Monstrous in the Middle Ages<\/em> (New York: Routledge, 2005).<\/p>\n

William Whitney, Jr., Two Strange Beasts: Leviathan and Behemoth in Second Temple and Early Rabbinic Judaism<\/em> (Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 2006).<\/p>\n

David Williams, Deformed Discourse: The Function of the Monster in Mediaeval Thought and Literature<\/em> (Montreal: McGill-Queen\u2019s University Press, 1996).<\/p>\n

Rudolf Wittkower, \u201cMarvels of the East: A Study in the History of Monsters,\u201d Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes<\/em> 5 (1942): 159-97.<\/p>\n

Other Worlds<\/strong><\/p>\n

Miguel As\u00edn Palacios, Islam and the Divine Comedy<\/em> (trans. Harold Sutherland; London: J. Murray, 1926).<\/p>\n

Richard Bauckham, \u201cEarly Jewish Visions of Hell,\u201d Journal of Theological Studies<\/em> 41 (1990): 355-85.<\/p>\n

Scott G. Bruce, ed., The Penguin Book of Hell<\/em> (New York: Penguin, 2018).<\/p>\n

John J. Collins and Michael Fishbane, eds., Death, Ecstasy, and Other Worldly Journeys<\/em> (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1995).<\/p>\n

Jean Delumeau, History of Paradise: The Garden of Eden in Myth and Tradition<\/em> (trans. Matthew O\u2019Connell; New York, 1995; repr., Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2000).<\/p>\n

Moses Gaster, \u201cHebrew Visions of Hell and Paradise,\u201d Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society<\/em> 23 (1893): 571-611.<\/p>\n

Aaron Gurevich, \u201cThe Divine Comedy<\/em> Before Dante,\u201d in idem, Medieval Popular Culture: Problems of Perception and Belief<\/em> (trans. J\u00e1nos M. Bak and Paul A. Hollingsworth; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988), 104-52.<\/p>\n

______, \u201cPerceptions of the Individual and the Hereafter in the Middle Ages,\u201d in idem, Historical Anthropology of the Middle Ages<\/em> (ed. Jana Howlett; Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992), 65-89.<\/p>\n

Martha Himmelfarb, Tours of Hell: An Apocalyptic Form in Jewish and Christian Literature<\/em> (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1983).<\/p>\n

Christian Lange, Paradise and Hell in Islamic Traditions<\/em> (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016).<\/p>\n

Jacques Le Goff, The Birth of Purgatory<\/em> (trans. Arthur Goldhammer; Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1984), esp. 17-127.<\/p>\n

______, The Medieval Imagination<\/em> (trans. Arthur Goldhammer; Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1988), esp. 27-44, 67-77.<\/p>\n

Howard Rollin Patch, The Other World, According to Descriptions in Medieval Literature<\/em> (Cambridge, Mass., 1950; repr., New York: Octagon Books, 1970).<\/p>\n

Micha J. Perry, \u201cJewish Heaven, Christian Hell: Rabbi Joshua ben Levi\u2019s Vision of the Afterlife,\u201d Journal of Medieval History<\/em> 43 (2017): 212-27.<\/p>\n

John C. Reeves, Trajectories in Near Eastern Apocalyptic: A Postrabbinic Jewish Apocalypse Reader<\/em> (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2005).<\/p>\n

Alessandro Scafi, ed., The Cosmography of Paradise: The Other World from Ancient Mesopotamia to Medieval Europe<\/em> (Warburg Institute Colloquia 27; London: The Warburg Institute, 2016).<\/p>\n

Helen Spurling, \u201cHebrew Visions of Hell and Paradise,\u201d in Richard Bauckham, James R. Davila, and Alexander Panayotov, eds., Old Testament Pseudepigrapha: More Noncanonical Scriptures, Volume One<\/em> (Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans, 2013), 699-753.<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Note well Prov 15:28: \u05dc\u05d1 \u05e6\u05d3\u05d9\u05e7 \u05d9\u05d4\u05d2\u05d4 \u05dc\u05e2\u05e0\u05d5\u05ea \u05d5\u05e4\u05d9 \u05e8\u05e9\u05e2\u05d9\u05dd \u05d9\u05d1\u05d9\u05e2 \u05e8\u05e2\u05d5\u05ea, which I\u2019m inclined to render as \u2018the mind of the devoted (student) contemplates before answering, whereas the mouth of the clueless spews out worthless nonsense.\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RELS 4000\/5000 Jewish Fantasy Literature TR 1:00-2:15 Dr. John C. Reeves 204B Macy Office hours: T 2:30-3:30; or by appointment jcreeves@uncc.edu https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/john-reeves\/ \u2018Do not believe anything that is written in the Chronicles of Moses! More generally, I say to you that any writing not authored by a prophet or a Sage reliant upon tradition is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":454,"featured_media":0,"parent":1638,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1654","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P3kl1F-qG","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/john-reeves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/john-reeves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/john-reeves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/john-reeves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/454"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/john-reeves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1654"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/john-reeves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1654\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1672,"href":"http:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/john-reeves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1654\/revisions\/1672"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/john-reeves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1638"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/john-reeves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}