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IMC 2019: Sessions

Session 1617: A Material Consideration of Berechaiah Ha-Nakdan

Thursday 4 July 2019, 11.15-12.45

Organiser:Shamma Boyarin, Department of English, University of Victoria
Moderator/Chair:Adrienne Williams Boyarin, Department of English, University of Victoria
Paper 1617-aRoman Springs: Empire and Crusade in Adelard of Bath and Berechiah Ha-Nakdan
(Language: English)
Ruth Nisse, Department of English, University of Nebraska, Lincoln
Index terms: Hebrew and Jewish Studies, Language and Literature - Comparative
Paper 1617-bThe Power of Stones: Berechia Ha-Nakdan's Lapidarium
(Language: English)
Shamma Boyarin, Department of English, University of Victoria
Index terms: Hebrew and Jewish Studies, Language and Literature - Comparative
Abstract

Ruth Nisse has recently shown in her book Jacob's Shipwreck, that Berechiah was an important interlocuter in England's literary scene, through his translations of Latin intellectual and literary works of 12th-century England. In addition to his adaptation of Adelrad's Quaestiones Naturales, Berechia wrote a collection of Aesopian tales that so closely resemble Marie de France's fables that for a time they were considered to be based at least in part on her work. Historians of science for their part have written about Berechiah's place in that area through his translations. This session uses material considerations of his work to bring the literary and scientific in conversation and to pave new ways in thinking about his oeuvre.