An Autobiographic Passage in Rhymed Prose in Isaac ibn Laṭif’s The Form of the World
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3989/sefarad.018-001Keywords:
Hebrew Rhymed Prose, Medieval Hebrew Literature, Kabbalah, Hebrew Literature in Medieval Iberia, Medieval Jewish Philosophy, 13th CenturyAbstract
This article analyzes the autobiographic passage in rhymed prose that constitutes the fifth chapter of the work The Form of the World, by 13th-century Jewish thinker Isaac ibn Laṭif (ca. 1210-ca. 1280). In this passage, expressed in the first person, the author describes his personal quest for enlightenment among traditional rabbinic scholars, those whom we would call today “kabbalists” (i.e., “those who have entered the garden of the pomegranates”), and philosophers. Finally, the author presents his own enlightenment as a quasiprophetic experience prompted by a personal exegetical engagement with the biblical text.
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