Yoav Rinon

This collection of articles deals with the notion of Eros from a broad range of historical, literary and cultural perspectives. One of the primary aims of the collection is to comprehend both the power and the problematic aspects of Eros and its contribution to the formation of family and community. Considering the concept of Eros textually and theoretically, the variety of topics raised reflects the different disciplines of the authors as well as their interdisciplinary approach. Special emphasis was given to the historical aspect of Eros, its temporal location and contextualization. Ruth Fine is Salomon and Victoria Cohen Professor of Iberian and Latin American Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Her recent publications include Lo converso: orden imaginario y realidad en la cultura espanola (with M. Guillemont and J. D. Vila) (Madrid/ Frankfurt 2013) and Reescrituras biblicas cervantinas (Madrid/Frankfurt, 2014). Yosef Kaplan is the Bernard Cherrick Emeritus Professor of Jewish History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His most recent publications include The Religious Cultures of Dutch Jewry (with Dan Michman, Leiden-Boston 2017) and Early Modern Religious and Ethnic Communities in Exile (Cambridge 2017). Shimrit Peled is a Lecturer at the Department of Hebrew Literature at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Among her publications: The Israeli sovereign: discourse and the novel 1967-1973 (Jerusalem, 2014), "Constructing Sexual Feminine Subjectivity in Victoria by Sami Michael" (Jerusalem, 2014). Yoav Rinon is a Renee Lang professor in the Department of Comparative Literature and the Department of Classics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His publications include: Sadian Reflections (Madison, 2005), Homer and the Dual Model of the Tragic (Ann Arbor, 2008), a verse translation of and commentary (with Luisa Ferretti-Cuomo) on Dante's Inferno (Jerusalem, 2013), and The Crisis in the Humanities (Tel Aviv, 2014).

Homer and the Dual Model of the Tragic interprets both of Homer's epics as demonstrating a sense of "the Tragic." While this view of human experience and society is customarily linked with Greek tragedy rather than epic, Rinon uses close readings of the texts to argue persuasively that both The Iliad and The Odyssey present a view of pathos interwoven with the knowledge that it is unavoidable and inexplicable. Using Aristotle's Poetics as a guide toward defining eutuchia and dystuchia, Rinon analyzes specific sections of the epics. He touches on the Cyclops episode and its use of Bakhtinian "heteroglossia," on the use of Hephaestus' creativity in both epics in the emergence of tragic signification, and on Demodocus' songs in book 8 of The Odyssey as seen through André Gide's mise en abîme. Other detailed readings look at individual themes and characters in the poems, including the image of the dog, the speeches in the ninth book of The Iliad, and numerous minor characters. Yoav Rinon's integration of classical philology, narratology, and post-colonial studies makes Homer and the Dual Model of the Tragic a widely interdisciplinary book, one that will appeal to both specialists and undergraduates in comparative literature, philosophy, and classical studies. Yoav Rinon is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of General and Comparative Literature and the Department of Classics at The Hebrew University. His previous books include Sadian Reflections (2005) and Aristotle’s Poetics: Translation, Notes and Commentary (in Hebrew, 2003). Cover credit: La Fragua de Vulcano, courtesy of Museo Nacional del Prado, Spain"Rinon is a subtle and eloquent reader of Homer, capable of opening fresh perspectives on even some of the most familiar passages of the two epics."---Stephen Halliwell, Professor of Greek, University of St. Andrews