Table of Contents

Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction Joseph, Comparative Folklore. and Questions of "Influence" The Texts The Bible, The Qur'an, Ancient Egyptian Literature, and the Iliad 1. The Centrality and Significance of the Joseph Narratives 2. The Spurned Woman: Potiphar's Wife in Scripture and Folklore 3. The Egyptian Background of the Joseph Story 4. A Portrait of Joseph 5. The Women of the Joseph Story 6. Joseph's Bones: Linking Canaan and Egypt Summary and Conclusions Notes Bibliography Index

About the Author

Shalom Goldman is Assistant Professor of Hebrew Studies at Dartmouth College. He is also the author of Hebrew and the Bible in America and coauthored the libretto of the American opera Akhnaten, music by Philip Glass.

Reviews

"This erudite and accessible study of sexual temptation and intrigue overcomes the barriers of time, religious confessions, and academic disciplines to unfold a powerful, universal tale for the modern reader. Shalom Goldman, writing with great knowledge and without pretense or jargon, is able to hold the reader spellbound as he interweaves the complex turns and interpretations of the Joseph story through many cultures and times. Goldman, never in the thrall of any one discipline or school of thought, gives us a truly interdisciplinary understanding of the underlying forces that have made this story one of the most popular tales in world literature." - Gordon D. Newby, Emory University "Goldman brings together in very accessible form a lot of material that often remains walled off and hidden from readers." - Journal of Biblical Literature