In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Acknowledgments Writing this book has been a formative experience, and I am deeply thankful to the teachers, colleagues, and friends who were part of it. My dissertation committee at Stanford University provided much-needed fuel in the form of both warmth and skepticism.Amir Eshel has always been willing to put things in perspective and to listen when I’ve needed a sympathetic ear; he has also never tired of asking me what is at stake for me in this work. The fundamental questions that initially propelled this investigation were formed in conversation with Franco Moretti. I deeply appreciate his will to engage in that conversation, even when it took turns away from his own fields of interest. Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht was endlessly generous with his time and his attention, reading through multiple drafts of my proposal and my chapters and attending to both the details and the big (the biggest possible ) picture. Russell Berman applied moderate and not so moderate forms of pressure on my argument and taught me clear thinking by example. Luba Golburt and Elif Batuman read and revised substantial segments of this manuscript in its earliest iteration, and I could not have wished for gentler or more solicitous co-conspirators and coaches in writing. Steven Zipperstein and Jeffrey Sammons both read chapters and offered important corrections and valuable encouragement. Bud Bynack edited the manuscript and saved me from much embarrassment and incoherence. Ilana Pardes read through the manuscript when it was near completion, and her enthusiasm came at just the right moment. I am deeply thankful to Paul Reitter and David Suchoff, whose readers’ reports gave me an entirely new perspective on this work and helped me improve it. The mistakes and infelicities that nevertheless slipped through are, no doubt, my responsibility alone. Without the faith of Henry Carrigan, at Northwestern University Press, this project would not have been completed. I also thank Henry’s colleague, Peter Raccuglia, for his help and support. Many thanks for all kinds of friendly advice, suggestions, and support go to Maya Barzilai, Aya Breuer, Margaret Cohen, Jonathan Decter, Marton Dornbach, Charitini Douvaldzi, Marisa Galvez, Mark Gelber, Ruth Ginsburg, Shai Ginsburg, Fabian Goppelsröder, Roland Greene, Jeffrey Grossman, Susannah Heschel, Hanan Hever, Ariel Hirschfeld, viii Acknowledgments Florian Klinger, Chana Kronfeld, Jakov Kuharic, Indra Levy, Enrique Lima, Vivian Liska, Paul Mendes-Flohr, Kenneth Moss, Kurt MüllerVollmer , Reviel Netz, Todd Presner, Shlommith Rimon-Kenan, Gabriella Safran, Haun Saussy, Galili Shachar, Allison Schachter, Vered Shemtov, Eugene Sheppard, Christian Sieg, Art Strum, Nirvana Tanoukhi, Sigrid Weigel, Zohar Weiman-Kelman, and Liliane Weissberg. Adam Stern compiled my bibliography and references. Sasha Senderovich helped me obtain scans of materials from Harvard University Library (at the price of breaking a rule or two). Gita Bar-Tikva guided me through the mazes of the Central Zionist Archives. I thank James Dalgety and Menachem Gutman for permission to use images. Material support for research and writing came in the form of a graduate fellowship from the Division of Languages, Cultures, and Literatures at Stanford University, a Geballe Dissertation Prize Fellowship at the Stanford Humanities Center, a Kreitman Postdoctoral Fellowship at Ben Gurion University, and a faculty fellowship at the Frankel Institute for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Michigan. Being a fellow at the Frankel Institute, under the leadership of Anita Norich, Joshua Miller, and Debra Dash-Moore, was a fantastic experience. At the University of Chicago, the chair of the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, Theo van den Hout, and the Dean of the Division of Humanities , Martha Roth, graciously granted me leave so I could travel to Michigan. I am grateful for the numerous forms of assistance they have offered to make my work possible and to my colleagues here for providing a stimulating and generous environment in which to teach and write. I am fortunate to have a loving and supportive family that cheered me on through the whole process. I’m especially grateful to my brother Ariel, and my in-laws Nissim and Tikva Francez.And, of course, to Itamar Alma, and Yasmin Francez, my loves. Finally, the love, support, and faith of my parents, Galit Hasan-Rokem and Freddie Rokem, is present in this book in myriad concrete and less concrete ways. I dedicate it to them. ...

Share