David Stern is the Harry Starr Professor of Classical and Modern Hebrew and Jewish Literature at Harvard University and coeditor of The Monk’s Haggadah (Penn State, 2015).

• ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction1 Vayikra Rabbah and My Life in Midrash2 The Beautiful Captive: The Rabbinic Imagination, the Greco-Roman Novel, and the Dangerous Gentile Female3 Ancient Jewish Interpretation of the Song of Songs in a Comparative Context4 On Comparative Biblical Exegesis—Interpretation, Influence, Appropriation5 Anthology and Polysemy in Classical Midrash6 The Fables of the Jews: From the Hebrew Bible Through Rabbinic Literature7 On Canonization in Rabbinic Literature8 The First Jewish Books and the Early History of Jewish ReadingNotesCredits

“This engaging and insightful collection illustrates the value of viewing together what originally were disparately published writings. The book will be of great interest to scholars of the rabbinic literature and of hermeneutics and literary theory more generally. Highly recommended.”—A. J. Avery-Peck Choice