Robert Alter: The Challenge of Translating the Bible
Posted by bushae on Thursday, November 3, 2016 in Past Events.
Vanderbilt University is delighted to welcome Robert Alter, Ph.D., Class of 1937 Professor of Hebrew and Comparative Literature at UC Berkeley.
Professor Alter is the author of twenty-two published books, which include award-winning translations of Genesis and the Five Books of Moses and two prize-winning volumes on biblical narrative and poetry. Professor Alter is a two-time recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship and has been a Senior Fellow of the National Endowment for the Humanities, a fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Jerusalem, and an Old Dominion fellow at Princeton University. In 2009, he received the Robert Kirsch Award from the Los Angeles Times for lifetime contribution to American letters. The following year, he received an honorary Doctorate of Humanities from Yale University President Rick Levin who remarked:
“…your thoughtful and brilliant work ranges from studies of the English and European novel to questions of tradition and modernity to trends in American and Jewish culture. But the greatest gifts you have given us are your unparalleled translation and your interpretations of the Hebrew Bible. By combining a poetic ear with intellectual rigor, you have illuminated the meaning of these ancient sacred texts in a fresh voice that is faithful to their origins…”
Alter’s ongoing translations of the Bible continue to be celebrated and renowned for their concise poeticism and sheer ambition.
Join us on Monday, January 30th, at 7pm in The Reading Room at the Vanderbilt University Divinity School, 411 21st Ave S, Room 124. Parking is available in the Wesley Place garage located at 21st Avenue and Scarritt Place.
This event is open to the public and is sponsored by the Vanderbilt University Program in Jewish Studies, the Department of English, the Department of Religious Studies, and the Vanderbilt University Divinity School.
*The Program in Jewish Studies aims to make our events accessible to all who wish to attend. Please contact the department for accessibility information or to make a request for an accommodation.
Phone: (615)-322-5029
Email: jewishstudies@vanderbilt.edu
