Ilana Pardes, Joseph and His Dreams: Bible, Literature, Psychoanalysis
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Dr. Marvin C. and Sharon A. Gerstein Distinguished Visiting Professor Lecture Series
Ilana Pardes (Hebrew University of Jerusalem)
Joseph and His Dreams: Bible, Literature, Psychoanalysis
Lecture 2: Joseph's Encounter with His Brothers in Egypt and the Question of Forgiveness
Joseph’s encounter with his brothers in Egypt is the climactic moment of the tale. Rather than revealing his identity, Joseph initially chooses to “play the stranger.” Repressed memories from the past arise with great intensity as Joseph and his brothers renegotiate their relationship. Ultimately, Joseph forgives his brothers, but this process is not devoid of ambivalence.
Ilana Pardes is the Katharine Cornell Professor of Comparative Literature at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She is currently a Visiting Professor of the Program in Judaic Studies at Princeton University. Her work has focused on the nexus of Bible, literature, and culture as well as on questions of gender, aesthetics, and hermeneutics. She is the author of Countertraditions in the Bible: A Feminist Approach (Harvard University Press, 1992), The Biography of Ancient Israel: National Narratives in the Bible (University of California Press, 2000), Melville's Bibles (University of California, 2008); Agnon's Moonstruck Lovers: The Song of Songs in Israeli Culture (The Samuel and Althea Stroum Lectures in Jewish Studies, University of Washington Press, 2013), The Song of Songs: A Biography (Princeton University Press, Lives of Great Religious Books, 2019), Ruth: A Migrant’s Tale (Yale University Press, Jewish Lives, 2022).