Hebrew University                                                            English Department

B.A. seminar 2004-20005                                                Prof. L. Besserman

Semesters A & B                                                             Sun. 16.30-18:00  room [to be announced]

“The Bible and English Literature”

Course Description:

The course focuses on the diction, imagery, narrative techniques, and principal thematic concerns of the English Bible, a literary masterpiece in its own right, and the single most important influence on English literature throughout the ages.  Readings include complete works or substantial selections from major books of the Old and New Testaments and

Apocrypha.  Though our reading is in English, we consider the generic conventions and the social, cultural, and historical contexts in which biblical literature was produced.  In addition to close literary study of individual biblical works from Genesis to Revelation, other topics to be considered include: the complexities of the construction of gender roles in and across various biblical texts; the problem of unity and diversity in a single book that is also an anthology of Near Eastern and Late Antique literary forms; the related problem of the canon of Scripture and its contested formation; the influential rabbinic mode of biblical interpretation known as midrash and contemporaneous Christian forms of biblical exegesis (parable, allegory, and typology); and the history and problematics of English Bible translation (with special attention to the literary and cultural landmarks of the Wycliffite Bible versions, c. 1385-95, and the King James/Authorized Version, 1611).  The influence of the Bible on English writers will occupy us throughout the course, and in their term papers students will have the option of exploring the relationship between a specific biblical text and a major English poem, play, or novel (Byron’s Cain, Milton’s Samson Agonistes, Robert Frost’s Masque of Reason, etc.).

Required text:

• The Bible: Authorized King James Version, ed. Robert Carroll and Stephen Prickett, The World’s Classics (Oxford, 1997).

Requirements/Grading:

30%: a 6-8 page term paper on the relationship between a specific biblical text and a major English poem, play, or novel; 20%: a one-hour midterm exam (IDs); 10%: one brief class-presentation outlining the major topics to be addressed in the term paper; 40%: final exam (50% IDs, 50% essay).