Laura S. Lieber's Books

Staging the Sacred

Performance in Late Ancient Liturgical Poetry

By: Laura S. Lieber

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Staging the Sacred

Performance in Late Ancient Liturgical Poetry

By: Laura S. Lieber

In this volume, Christian, Jewish, and Samaritan liturgical poetry from Late Antiquity (ca. 3rd-4th c. CE) is examined not only from within the context of religious traditions of biblical interpretation and conventions of prayer but also through the lenses of performance, entertainment, and spectacle. Recognizing that liturgical poets were as invested engaging their listeners as orators and actors were, this study analyses hymnody as a performative genre akin to oratory and theatre, the two primary modes of public performance from the wider societal context. Attention to liturgical poetry's "theatricality" draws our attention to a range of subjects, from how biblical stories were adapted to the liturgical stage, much in the way that the classical works of Greco-Roman antiquity were themselves popularized in this Late Antique period; to the adaptation of physical techniques and material structures to augment the ability of performers to engage their audiences. Specific techniques associated with both oratory and acting in antiquity will offer concrete means for elucidating the affinities of liturgical presentations and other modes of performance: indications of direct address, for example, and apostrophe, as well as the creation of character through speech (ethopoeia); and appeals to the audience's senses, including vivid descriptions (ekphrasis), a technique especially popular in antiquity. A serious consideration of performance also demands that we make the difficult leap to imagining the world beyond the page. While Late Antique hymnody has come down to the present primarily in textual form, the written word constitutes something quite remote from the actual experience these scripts reflect. We will thus attempt to consider more speculative but recognizably essential elements of these works' reception, including ways in which liturgical poetry could have borrowed from the gestures and body language of oratory, mime, and pantomime, and how poets may have used the physical spaces of performance and accelerated changes visible in the archaeological record"--

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425

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

019006546X

ISBN 13

9780190065461

A Vocabulary of Desire

The Song of Songs in the Early Synagogue

By: Laura S. Lieber

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A Vocabulary of Desire

The Song of Songs in the Early Synagogue

By: Laura S. Lieber

In A Vocabulary of Desire, Laura Lieber offers a nuanced, multifaceted and highly original study of how the Song of Songs was understood and deployed by Jewish liturgical poets in Late Antiquity (ca. 4th-7th centuries CE). Through her examination of poems which embellish and even rewrite the Song of Songs, Lieber brings the creative spirit-liturgical, intellectual, and exegetical-of these poems vividly to the fore. All who are interested in the early interpretation of the Song of Songs, the ancient synagogue, early Jewish and Christian hymnography, and Judaism in Late Antiquity will find this volume both enriching and accessible. The volume consists of two interrelated halves. In the first section, four introductory essays establish the broad cultural context in which these poems emerged; in the second, each chapter consists of an analytical essay structured around a single, complete poetic cycle, presented in new Hebrew editions with annotated original English translations. "The Hebrew text edition is accompanied by a lucid and poetic English translation with annotations and a commentary. In this excellent, scholarly text edition, the commentary is focused and to the point...This reviewer highly recommends this monograph to scholars interested in the early synagogue and its liturgy, late antique and medieval Hebrew poetry, rabbinic Judaism, and early Christianity. The book invites further comparative work in these areas." Rivka B. Ulmer, H-Judaic, H-Net Reviews. May, 2015.

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Page Count

462

Publisher

BRILL

Published Date

ISBN 10

9004278591

ISBN 13

9789004278592

Yannai on Genesis

An Invitation to Piyyut

By: Laura S. Lieber

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Yannai on Genesis

An Invitation to Piyyut

By: Laura S. Lieber

Piyyut is the art of Hebrew or Aramaic poetry composed either in place of or as adornments to Jewish statutory prayers. Laura S. Lieber uses the piyyutim of a single poet, Yannai (ca. sixth century C.E.), to introduce readers to this important but largely unfamiliar body of writings. Yannai, the first Hebrew poet to sign his name to his works (by means of an acrostic), influenced Hebrew sacred poetry for centuries beyond his lifespan. He was the first to consistently use true end rhyme, and he was among the first to have written for the weekly service and festivals rather than just particular holidays. As literary works, his poems are as dazzling as they are complex, rich with sound and play, allusion and linguistic beauty. Lieber presents the Hebrew texts of Yannai's 31 extant piyyutim which embellish the Book of Genesis. She translates, annotates, and analyzes these complex poems, which display the poet's transformative treatments of some of the most familiar biblical narratives. She contextualizes these poems and teaches readers how to read and appreciate piyyut by studying Yannai's poetic language and the formal structures of the poems; his exegetical, cultural, and societal importance; and intriguing motifs in Yannai's worldview such as mysticism, holiness, Jewish-Christian relations, and the role of women. Lieber's groundbreaking study is an invitation to those with interests in areas such as liturgical studies, rabbinic literature and targum studies, the early synagogue and its art, Byzantine Christian culture and society, and the history of biblical interpretation to engage with these beautiful and neglected texts and include them in larger intellectual conversations.

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817

Publisher

Hebrew Union College Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0878201041

ISBN 13

9780878201044

Jewish Aramaic Poetry from Late Antiquity

Translations and Commentaries. Cambridge Genizah Studies Series, Volume 8

By: Laura Suzanne Lieber

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Jewish Aramaic Poetry from Late Antiquity

Translations and Commentaries. Cambridge Genizah Studies Series, Volume 8

By: Laura Suzanne Lieber

In Jewish Aramaic Poetry from Late Antiquity, Laura Suzanne Lieber offers annotated translations of sixty-nine poems written between the 4th and 7th century C.E. in the Land of Israel, along with commentaries and introductions. The poems celebrate a range of occasions from the ritual year and the life-cycle: Passover, Shavuot (Pentacost), the Ninth of Av, Purim, the New Moon of Nisan, the conclusion of the Torah, weddings, and funerals. Written in the vernacular of the Jews of living in Palestine after the Christianization of the Roman Empire, these works offer insight into lived Jewish experience during a pivotal age. The volume contextualizes the individual works so that readers from a range of backgrounds can appreciate the formal, linguistic, exegetical, theological, and performative creativity of these works. "Lieber has produced reliable renderings, as well as learned and helpful annotations, and has consistently expressed herself in clear and elegant fashion....Her volume is an important, scientific study in its own right, as well as a useful reference tool (if read alongside the Sokoloff-Yahalom edition), and certainly deserves a wide readership." - Stefan C. Reif, St John's College, Cambridge, UK, in: Journal of Jewish Studies 70.2 (2019) "Scholars of Judaism in late antiquity and the early Middle Ages will certainly appreciate Lieber’s effort in offering all of this textual material to them in conveniently accessible form. Almost every student of Judaism in those eras, regardless of academic specialty, is likely to find something of interest and value in the poems that she has translated." - Mose J. Bernstein, Yeshiva University, Speculum 95/3 (2020)

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245

Publisher

BRILL

Published Date

ISBN 10

9004365893

ISBN 13

9789004365896

A Vocabulary of Desire

The Song of Songs in the Early Synagogue

By: Laura Suzanne Lieber

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A Vocabulary of Desire

The Song of Songs in the Early Synagogue

By: Laura Suzanne Lieber

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Page Count

450

Publisher

Brill Academic Pub

Published Date

ISBN 10

9004234632

ISBN 13

9789004234635

Yannai on Genesis

An Invitation to Piyyut

By: Laura S. Lieber

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Yannai on Genesis

An Invitation to Piyyut

By: Laura S. Lieber

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817

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Hebrew Union College Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0878201041

ISBN 13

9780878201044

The Objects That Remain

By: Laura Levitt

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The Objects That Remain

By: Laura Levitt

On a November evening in 1989, Laura Levitt was raped in her own bed. Her landlord heard the assault taking place and called 911, but the police arrived too late to apprehend Laura’s attacker. When they left, investigators took items with them—a pair of sweatpants, the bedclothes—and a rape exam was performed at the hospital. However, this evidence was never processed. Decades later, Laura returns to these objects, viewing them not as clues that will lead to the identification of her assailant but rather as a means of engaging traumatic legacies writ large. The Objects That Remain is equal parts personal memoir and fascinating examination of the ways in which the material remains of violent crimes inform our experience of, and thinking about, trauma and loss. Considering artifacts in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and evidence in police storage facilities across the country, Laura’s story moves between intimate trauma, the story of an unsolved rape, and genocide. Throughout, she asks what it might mean to do justice to these violent pasts outside the juridical system or through historical empiricism, which are the dominant ways in which we think about evidence from violent crimes and other highly traumatic events. Over the course of her investigation, the author reveals how these objects that remain and the stories that surround them enable forms of intimacy. In this way, she models for us a different kind of reckoning, where justice is an animating process of telling and holding.

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104

Publisher

Penn State Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

027108877X

ISBN 13

9780271088778

Staging the Sacred

Performance in Late Ancient Liturgical Poetry

By: Laura S. Lieber

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Staging the Sacred

Performance in Late Ancient Liturgical Poetry

By: Laura S. Lieber

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Solve jigsaw puzzle

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Page Count

425

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

019006546X

ISBN 13

9780190065461

Book's by Laura S. Lieber

Staging the Sacred

Staging the Sacred

A Vocabulary of Desire

A Vocabulary of Desire

Yannai on Genesis

Yannai on Genesis

Jewish Aramaic Poetry from Late Antiquity

Jewish Aramaic Poetry from Late Antiquity

A Vocabulary of Desire

A Vocabulary of Desire

Yannai on Genesis

Yannai on Genesis

The Objects That Remain

The Objects That Remain

Staging the Sacred

Staging the Sacred

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