Robert Bernard Alter (born 1935)
is an American professor of
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
and
comparative literature
Comparative literature is an academic field dealing with the study of literature and cultural expression across linguistic, national, geographic, and disciplinary boundaries. Comparative literature "performs a role similar to that of the study ...
at the
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
, where he has taught since 1967. He published
his translation of the Hebrew Bible in 2018.
Biography
Robert Alter earned his bachelor's degree in English (
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
, 1957), and his master's degree (1958) and doctorate (1962) from
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
in comparative literature. He started his career as a writer at ''
Commentary
Commentary or commentaries may refer to:
Publications
* ''Commentary'' (magazine), a U.S. public affairs journal, founded in 1945 and formerly published by the American Jewish Committee
* Caesar's Commentaries (disambiguation), a number of works ...
'', where he was for many years a contributing editor. He has written twenty-three books, and is noted most recently for his translation of the entire Hebrew Bible. He lectures on topics varying from Biblical episodes to
Kafka
Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a German-speaking Bohemian novelist and short-story writer, widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic. It typ ...
's modernism and
Hebrew literature
Hebrew literature consists of ancient, medieval, and modern writings in the Hebrew language. It is one of the primary forms of Jewish literature, though there have been cases of literature written in Hebrew by non-Jews. Hebrew literature was pro ...
.
Biblical studies
One of Alter's important contributions is the introduction of the
type scene A type scene is a literary convention employed by a narrator across a set of scenes, or related to scenes (place, action) already familiar to the audience. The similarities with, and differences from, the established type are used to illuminate deve ...
into contemporary scholarly
Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;["Tanach"](_blank)
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. Hebrew: ''Tān ...
studies. An example of a type scene is that of a man meeting a young woman at a well, whom he goes on to marry; this scene occurs twice in
Genesis
Genesis may refer to:
Bible
* Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind
* Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book of ...
and once in
Exodus
Exodus or the Exodus may refer to:
Religion
* Book of Exodus, second book of the Hebrew Torah and the Christian Bible
* The Exodus, the biblical story of the migration of the ancient Israelites from Egypt into Canaan
Historical events
* Ex ...
, and, according to Alter, distortedly in
1 Samuel and in the
Book of Ruth
The Book of Ruth ( he, מגילת רות, ''Megilath Ruth'', "the Scroll of Ruth", one of the Five Megillot) is included in the third division, or the Writings (Ketuvim), of the Hebrew Bible. In most Christian canons it is treated as one of the ...
.
Honors
Alter has served as an active member of the Council of Scholars of the
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...
, and as the president of the
Association of Literary Scholars and Critics. He was a
Guggenheim Fellow
Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...
in 1966 and 1978. He was elected a Fellow of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...
in 1986.
In 2001, he was elected a member of the
American Philosophical Society
The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...
. He was a Senior Fellow of the
National Endowment for the Humanities
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preserv ...
, a fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
, and Old Dominion Fellow at
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...
. He is a member of the Editorial Board of the
Jewish Review of Books
The ''Jewish Review of Books'' is a quarterly magazine with articles on literature, culture and current affairs from a Jewish perspective. It is published in Cleveland Heights, Ohio.
The magazine was launched in 2010 with an editorial board that ...
.
Awards
His book ''
The Art of Biblical Narrative'' won the
National Jewish Book Award
The Jewish Book Council (Hebrew: ), founded in 1944, is an organization encouraging and contributing to Jewish literature.[Robert Kirsch Award
Since 1980, the ''Los Angeles Times'' has awarded a set of annual book prizes. The Prizes currently have nine categories: Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Biography, biography, Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Current Interest, current interest, ...]
(''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'') for lifetime contribution to American letters. He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humanities degree by
Yale University
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...
in 2010. He is a Doctor Honoris Causa of
Hebrew University
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Dr. Chaim Weiz ...
(2015).
* Berkeley Citation (2010)
Selected works
;Translations of the Hebrew Bible
* ''The David Story: A Translation with Commentary of 1 and 2 Samuel'', 1999,
W.W. Norton
W. W. Norton & Company is an American publishing company based in New York City. Established in 1923, it has been owned wholly by its employees since the early 1960s. The company is known for its Norton Anthologies (particularly ''The Norton An ...
,
* ''The Five Books of Moses: A Translation with Commentary'', 2004, W.W. Norton,
* ''The Book of Psalms: A Translation with Commentary'', 2007, W.W. Norton,
* ''The Book of Genesis'', translation by Robert Alter, illustrated by
R. Crumb, 2009, W.W. Norton (first edition, 1996),
* ''The Wisdom Books: Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes: A Translation with Commentary'', 2010, W.W. Norton,
* ''Ancient Israel: The Former Prophets: Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings: A Translation with Commentary'', 2013, W.W. Norton,
* ''Strong As Death Is Love: Song of Songs Ruth Esther Jonah And Daniel: A Translation with Commentary'', 2015, W.W. Norton,
* ''
The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary'', 2018, W.W. Norton,
;Other works
* ''Rogue's Progress: Studies in the Picaresque Novel'', 1965, Harvard University Press
*
Partial Magic: The Novel as a Self-Conscious Genre', 1975, University of California Press,
''A Lion for Love: A Critical Biography of Stendhal'' in collaboration with Carol Cosman, 1979, Basic Books,
* ''
The Art of Biblical Narrative'', 1981,
Basic Books
Basic Books is a book publisher founded in 1950 and located in New York, now an imprint of Hachette Book Group. It publishes books in the fields of psychology, philosophy, economics, science, politics, sociology, current affairs, and history.
H ...
,
''Motives for Fiction'' 1984,
Harvard University Press
Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the retirem ...
,
* ''The Art of Biblical Poetry'', 1985, Basic Books,
''The Literary Guide to the Bible''Edited by Alter and
Frank Kermode
Sir John Frank Kermode, FBA (29 November 1919 – 17 August 2010) was a British literary critic best known for his 1967 work '' The Sense of an Ending: Studies in the Theory of Fiction'' and for his extensive book-reviewing and editing.
He was ...
, 1987, Harvard University Press,
* ''The Invention of Hebrew Prose: Modern Fiction and the Language Revolution'', 1988, University of Washington Press.
* ''Pleasures of Reading in an Ideological Age'', 1990, W.W. Norton,
''Necessary Angels: Tradition and Modernity in Kafka, Benjamin, and Scholem'' 1991, Harvard University Press,
* ''Imagined Cities: Urban Experience and the Novel'', 2005, Yale University Press,
* ''Pen of Iron: American Prose and the King James Bible'', 2010,
Princeton University Press
Princeton University Press is an independent publisher with close connections to Princeton University. Its mission is to disseminate scholarship within academia and society at large.
The press was founded by Whitney Darrow, with the financial su ...
,
* ''The Art of Bible Translation'', 2019, Princeton University Press,
* ''Nabokov and the Real World: Between Appreciation and Defense'', 2021,
Princeton University Press,
References
External links
CV on UCBerkeley's website''The Five Books of Moses'' review at ''The New Yorker''*
ttp://www.firstthings.com/article/2007/01/robert-alter8217s-fidelity-6 ''The Five Books of Moses'' reviewby
Alan Jacobs in ''First Things'' (Aug/Sept. 2005)
''The Book of Psalms'' review at ''The New Yorker''Audio interview with Robert AlterRobert Alter's articles in the ''London Review of Books''*''The Hebrew Bible'', 3 vols.
reviewedby
Gary A. Rendsburg
Gary A. Rendsburg (born 1954) is a professor of biblical studies, Hebrew language, and ancient Judaism at Rutgers University – New Brunswick, Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. He holds the rank of Distinguished Professor and serves ...
at Moment Magazine
Sample chapterof Alter's translation of Genesis
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alter, Robert
1935 births
Living people
Columbia College (New York) alumni
Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni
University of California, Berkeley College of Letters and Science faculty
Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
American biblical scholars
Jewish American academics
Translators of the Bible into English
Jewish translators of the Bible
Translators from Hebrew
Translators to English
American literary critics
Bible commentators
Old Testament scholars
21st-century American Jews
Members of the American Philosophical Society