David Fishelov

David Fishelov - 2011

David Fishelov (Hebrew: דוד פישלוב‎, born June 1, 1954) is a Professor of Comparative Literature at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.

Biography

David Fishelov was born and raised in Israel. He earned his bachelor's degree in Comparative Literature and Philosophy (1979), his master's degree in Comparative Literature (1982) from Tel Aviv University, and a Doctorate in Comparative Literature (1986) from UC Berkeley, where he wrote his PhD thesis on the role of metaphors in theories of literary genres.

Career

Since 1986, David Fishelov has been teaching in the Department of Comparative Literature at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.[1] and served as its Chairman.

Fishelov acted as a visiting Professor at UC Berkeley, University of Chicago, Columbia University, and the EHESS in Paris, and also taught at the Rothberg International School of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is a member of the Editorial Board of Connotations: A Journal for Critical Debate.

Fishelov also acted (2011) as chair of the committee appointed by the Israeli Ministry of Culture and the Jerusalem municipality for awarding the Yehuda Amichai prize in poetry [2]

As a literary critic, Fishelov has published numerous review articles and essays in the literary supplements of the daily newspapers Davar, Ha'aretz and Yediot Ahronot.[3]

He also wrote comprehensive afterword to Hebrew translations of several 18th century literary works such as Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe[4][5] and Moll Flanders,[6] Jonathan Swift's Selected Writing and Laurence Sterne's A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy.[7] thus making these classics more accessible to Israeli readers.

Work

His topics of research and publication include genre theory, poetic simile, biblical characters in modern literature, the role of literary and artistic dialogues in canon formation, 18th century English literature, and modern Hebrew poetry.

Fishelov's book Metaphors of Genre[8] made a significant impact on the field of Genre Studies and is widely discussed and cited. The book unveils the role played by conceptual metaphors in modern theories of literary genre: literary genres have been compared to biological species, to families, to social institutions and to speech acts. Contrary to Post-Structuralism and Deconstruction criticism, the book argues that generic categories still play an important role in the process of the production, reception and interpretation of literary texts. When the book first came out some reviewers criticized it for advocating a conservative approach to genres,[9] but since then the book's usefulness to Genre studies has been acknowledged by many scholars working in the field.[10]

In [[:he:כמטר שמים|Like a Rainfall|, Fishelov offers a model for describing poetic similes (e.g. T. S. Eliot's "the evening is spread out against the sky / Like a patient etherized upon a table") as a cluster of functional deviations from the norms of trite, nonpoetic similes (e.g. "it is as good as gold"). Alongside the general model, the book offers close readings of poetic similes drawn from poets of different periods and languages (Virgil, John Donne, Charles Baudelaire, Yehuda Amichai).

In his book Samson's Locks (in Hebrew), which won the first Bahat Prize, Fishelov traces the rich network of adaptations of the biblical story of Samson throughout history and demonstrates the vital role of the Bible as a source of inspiration for authors and artists in different periods and cultures."[11]

Fishelov's research interest in the transformations of mythical and classical stories is also evident in his book Dialogues with/and Great Books[12] , in which he shows how literary and artistic adaptations foster and maintain a book's canonical status. Through a blend of empirical methods and a series of close readings of case studies, the book offers a fresh perspective on the complex process of canonization of literary works.[13]

Awards

Selected Articles

References

  1. ↑ "David Fishelov, Professor of Comparative Literature". The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Retrieved April 28, 2015.
  2. ↑ "Yehuda Amichai prize in poetry".
  3. ↑ "Vox populi? On Israel's most cherished poets. Yediot Ahronot (24.6.2005)".
  4. ↑ "A review of Robinson Crusoe's Hebrew translation: Milette Shamir in Ha'aretz (16.10.2006)".
  5. ↑ "A review of Robinson Crusoe's Hebrew translation: Galia Benziman in Ha'aretz (26.3.2007)".
  6. ↑ "A review of Moll Flanders' Hebrew translation: Galia Benziman in Ha'aretz (11.8.2004)".
  7. ↑ "A review of A Sentimental Journey's Hebrew translation: Galia Benziman in Ha'aretz (26.7.2012)".
  8. ↑ "Metaphors of Genre: The Role of Analogies in Genre Theory". University Park: Penn State UP. 1993. ISBN 9780271008868. Retrieved April 28, 2015.
  9. ↑ "David McWhirter". South Central Review. 1996. pp. 80–82.
  10. ↑ "Harry E. Shaw". Comparative Literature Studies. 1996. pp. 221–224.
  11. ↑ "Yaira Amit, A review article of Samson's Locks, Ha-aretz-Sfarim, The literary supplement of Ha'aretz newspaper (12.7.2000) (In Hebrew)".
  12. ↑ "Dialogues with/and Great Books: The Dynamics of Canon Formation". Brighton: Sussex Academic Press. 2010. ISBN 9781845193683. Retrieved April 28, 2015.
  13. ↑ "Yael Levin". Partial Answers: Journal of Literature and the History of Ideas. 2013. pp. 178–181.
  14. ↑ "Bahat Priz".
  15. ↑ [* http://web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?sid=9399f0e5-6ab4-4c00-a214-2b9848247979%40sessionmgr198&vid=0&hid=109&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=aph&AN=9606211498 "David Fishelov"] Check |url= value (help). Style. 1990. pp. 422–439.
  16. ↑ "David Fishelov". Poetics. 1991. pp. 123–138.
  17. ↑ [* http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1600-0730.1992.tb01165.x/abstract "David Fishelov"] Check |url= value (help). Orbis Litterarum. 1992. pp. 178–191.
  18. ↑ [* http://www.jstor.org/stable/1773138?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents "David Fishelov"] Check |url= value (help). Poetics Today. 1993. pp. 1–23.
  19. ↑ "David Fishelov". Journal of Literary Semantics. 1995. pp. 117–126.
  20. ↑ "David Fishelov". European Journal of English Studies. 1999. pp. 51–63.
  21. ↑ "David Fishelov". Connotations: A Journal for Critical Debate. 2004. pp. 1–18.
  22. ↑ "David Fishelov". Journal of Literary Semantics. 2007. pp. 71–87.
  23. ↑ "David Fishelov". New Literary History. 2008. pp. 335–353.
  24. ↑ "David Fishelov". Connotations: A Journal for Critical Debate. 2008. pp. 28–47.
  25. ↑ "David Fishelov". Semiotica. 2013. pp. 249–275.
  26. ↑ "David Fishelov". Connotations: A Journal for Literary Debate. 2013. pp. 261–282.

External links

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