The book is concerned with a so called ethical midrash Seder Eliyahu (also known as Tanna debe
Eliyahu) a post-talmudic work probably composed in the ninth century. It provides a survey of
the research on this late midrash followed by five studies of different aspects related to what
is designated as the work¿s narratology. These include a discussion of the problem of the
apparent pseudo-epigraphy of the work and of the multiple voices of the text a description of
the various narrative types which the work itself as a whole of non-narrative character makes
use of a detailed treatment of Seder Eliyahüs parables and most characteristic first person
narratives (an extremely unusual form of narrative discourse in rabbinic literature) as well
as a final chapter dedicated to selected women stories in this late midrash. As it emerges from
the survey in chapter 1 such a narratologically informed study of Seder Eliyahu represents a
new approach in the research on a work that is clearly the product of a time of transition in
Jewish literature.
