Prof. Shlomy Mualem
In the first leg of my academic journey, I studied comparative literature and philosophy in these departments at Bar Ilan University. The Ariadne's cord (guiding principle) in my varied studies was the Zen-Buddhist epigram: "do not follow the footsteps of the sages, follow what they themselves followed", along with Borges' advice that we should only delve into books that inexplicably grasp our attention. Immediately after completing my comparative dissertation on Jorge Luis Borges' fiction and Plato's philosophy, I have conducted a postdoctoral study on Borges and the early philosophy of Wittgenstein in the Graduate .School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) at Harvard University
Currently I serve as an associate professor at the department of comparative literature (formerly head of the department), affirming Spinoza's view that the highest of all pleasures is intellectual undertaking. My main fields of interest span between literature, theology and philosophy, including the study of the works of Jorge Luis Borges, Plato’s philosophy, Wittgenstein's philosophy of language, ancient and modern aesthetics, theopoetics (the presence of holiness in the work of art), Cabbalistic theosophy and poetics, as well as the comparative study of Eastern and Western cultures and philosophies, with special attention given to Buddhism and Zen Buddhism. Presently, I humbly serve as co-editor of the "East and West" series at Idra Academic Press, and as the director of "the Bar Ilan Forum for Religious Studies", alongside my colleague and friend prof. Hanoch Ben-Pazi.
Prof. Mualem CV
CV
Courses
קורסים
1. לולאה מוזרה: ספרות ופילוסופיה במפגש
2. דלתות התודעה: המיסטיקה בספרות ובתרבויות העולם
3. זן בודהיזם: ספרות, תרבות ומדיטציה
4. חידת היופי: אסתטיקה מודרנית וספרות
5. תורת הסוד וספרות עולם: ספרות וקבלה במפגש
6. החיפוש אחר הגאולה מהודו העתיקה ועד לבודהיזם
7. החוויה המיסטית במזרח ובמערב
8. אור אינסוף: נוכחות הקבלה בספרות המודרנית
Publications
RECENT PUBLICATIONS:
Books (as author)
- BLUE TIGERS: A STUDY OF BORGES’ THOUGHT AND FICTION (2020), pp. 180, Idra Academic Press, Tel Aviv (Hebrew)
- POETS OF INFINITY: BORGES AND THE POETICS OF KABBALAH (2019), pp. 246, Idra Academic Press, Tel Aviv ,(Hebrew)
- MAZES AND AMAZEMENTS: BORGES AND WESTERN PHILOSOPHY, (2017), pp. 274, Peter Lang International Academic Publishing, series: Hispanic Studies: Culture and Ideas, Oxford OK (in English)
- BORGES AND PLATO: A GAME WITH SHIFTING MIRRORS, (2012), pp. 243, Vervuert-Iberoamericana, series: History and Criticism of Literature, no. 54, Frankfurt and Madrid (in English)
Books (as Editor)
- PROPHECY AND MYSTICISM: COMPARATIVE STUDIES IN JEWISH-HINDU PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION (Forthcoming, 2023), pp. 336, , Idra Academic Press, Shlomy Mualem and Ithamar theodor (Eds.) (Hebrew)
- THEOPOETICS: COLLECTED ESSAYS, (2020), PP. 458, Idra Academic Press, Avi Elqayam and Shlomy Mualem (Eds.) (Hebrew)
- KABBALA, MYSTICISM AND POETICS, (2015), PP. 483, Avi Elqayam and Shlomy Mualem (Eds.), Magnes Press, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem (in Hebrew)
Academic Journals, as Editor
Shlomy Mualem and Rachel Albeck-Gidron (Eds.) BIKORET UPARSHANUT [Criticism and Interpretation], special issue: Aesthetics, Poetics and Literary Criticism, vol. 42, Spring 2010, pp. 410, Bar-Ilan University Press, Ramat Gan (Hebrew)
Selected Recent Essays in Academic Journals and Books
1. (2023) “Prophetic and Mystical Religions: The Ancient Quarrel between Hinduism and Judaism – a Survey of Robert Zaehner’s Theory of Comparative Religion”, in: PROPHECY AND MYSTICISM: COMPARATIVE STUDIES IN JEWISH-HINDU PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION (Forthcoming, 2023), pp. 336, Idra Academic Press, Shlomy Mualem and Ithamar theodor (Eds.) (Hebrew)
2. (2023) “The Miracle Torah Scroll: Hasidic Healing Strategies During Plagues”, Göttingen University Press, Gottingen, Germany (forthcoming)
3. (2023) “The Dual Function of Socratic Irony in Philosophical Interactions: Kierkegaard's Concept of Irony versus Alcibiades' Speech”, Tópicos Journal of Philosophy (México) no. 67
4. (2022) “Literary Writing and Personal Identity in Borges and Pessoa”, IAFOR Journal of Arts and Humanities, vol. 9, Issue 1( https://iafor.org/journal/iafor-journal-of-arts-and-humanities/volume-9-issue-1/article-7/ ) (English)
5. (2020) “Divine abyss: Philosophical Theopoetics in the Works of Heidegger and Wittgenstein”, in: THEOPOETICS: COLLECTED ESSAYS, Tel Aviv, ,Idra Academic Press, 2020, 56 pp. (Hebrew)
6. (2018) "Narrative Aspect Change and Alternating Systems of Justice: A Wittgensteinian Reading of Borges", in: Garry Hagberg (Ed.), Wittgenstein on Aesthetic Understanding, series: Philosophy in Depth, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 21 pp. (English)
7. (2018) "Kabbala and Metaphysics: The Image of the Golem in the Work of J. L. Borges", in: Maase Sipur- Studies in Jewish Narrative, vol. IV, Ramat Gan: Bar Ilan University Press, 26 pp. (Hebrew)
8. (2016) "Imaginative Geography: Dialectical Orientalism in Borges", in: Transmodernity: Journal of Peripheral Cultural Production of the Luso-Hispanic World, University of California, (open access) pp. 131-151. (English)
9. (2017) "Borges and Levinas Face to Face: Writing and the Riddle of Subjectivity", in: Philosophy and Literature, 41 (1), John Hopkins University Press, USA, pp. 315-343 (English)
10. (2017) "Nonsense and Irony: Wittgenstein's Strategy of Self- Refutation and Kierkegaard's Concept of Indirect Communication", in: Tópicos Journal of Philosophy (México) no.53 México jul./dic. 2017 (English)
11. (2018) "Originality of the Soil: Wittgenstein’s Philosophy of Jewish Intellectualism and Transcendental Ethics", in: DAAT: A Journal of Jewish Philosophy & Kabbalah, no. 85, Bar Ilan University, 17 pp. (Hebrew)
* full list of publication will be delivered upon request
Last Updated Date : 08/08/2023
