Piyyut and Midrash

Novick studies the relationship between rabbinic midrash and classical (and to a lesser extent pre-classical) piyyut . The first focuses on features of piyyut that distinguish it, at least prima facie, from rabbinic midrash: its performative character, its formal constraints, and its character as prayer. The second part considers midrash and piyyut together via an analysis of a narrative form that looms large in both corpora. The 'serial narrative' is a narrative that binds biblical history together by stringing together instance of the 'same' event across multiple time periods. Thereby, Novick surveys basic features of serial narratives in midrash and piyyut . Subsequent chapters take up instance of specific serial narrative forms from Second Temple literature to piyyut: the kingdom series, the salvation history, and the serial confession. Together, the two parts yield a nuanced account of the continuities and discontinuities between the two great corpora produced by rabbinic and para-rabbinic circles in Roman Palestine.