Robert Alter, one of the world’s leading Bible scholars, will present the West Virginia Humanities Council’s annual McCreight Lecture at 7:30 p.m. on October 30 at the University of Charleston.
Alter has spent the past three decades translating and interpreting the Old Testament or Hebrew Bible. In his talk, “The History of the English Bible: From King James to the 21st Century,” he will discuss how he has worked to restore in English the clarity and literary power of the Hebrew original. The program takes place in the Geary Auditorium of Riggleman Hall with a book signing afterward. It is free and open to the public.
Robert Alter is emeritus professor of Hebrew and Comparative Literature at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a graduate of Columbia University and earned his Ph.D. at Harvard. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, the Council of Scholars of the Library of Congress, and a former president of the Association of Literary Scholars and Critics.
He won the PEN USA Literary Award for Translation for his book The Five Books of Moses, which was also a New York Times Notable Selection. Other titles by Alter include The Art of Biblical Narrative; The Literary Guide to the Bible; The David Story; The Book of Psalms; Pen of Iron: American Prose and the King James Bible; The Wisdom Books: Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes; and Ancient Israel. Alter also received the Robert Kirsch Award from the Los Angeles Times for lifetime contribution to American letters.
For more information call the West Virginia Humanities Council at 304-346-8500 or visit www.wvhumanities.org.
