Product Code Database
Dov Noy (; 20 October 1920 – 29 September 2013) was an Israeli folkloristics. He is considered one of the most important researchers in the field of Jewish folklore.
After the war, in 1946, Noy got his MA from the Hebrew University. He then worked as a teacher in British internment camps for Holocaust survivors in Cyprus in 1947–1949, where he met his brother Meir. From 1949 to 1952, he was part of the editorial team of a children's weekly magazine Davar Le'yeladim.
He studied in the United States from 1952 to 1954, first studying comparative literature under René Wellek at Yale University before moving to Indiana University Bloomington. There, he completed his doctoral dissertation under the supervision of folklorist Stith Thompson. Titled "Motif-Index of Talmudic-Midrashic Literature", Noy's dissertation analyzed motifs in rabbinic literature. This work was later included into Thompson's six-volume Motif-Index of Folk-Literature, "greatly raising the status of Jewish folklore in the field". Noy was the first folklorist who applied the Aarne-Thompson classification to Jewish folklore. Thompson called Noy "one of the most brilliant disciples I have ever had".
He also founded the Folklore Research Center at the Hebrew University and taught Jewish Folklore course there. Noy travelled a lot, giving lectures and attending conferences. In 1985–92, he was also the Professor of Yiddish Folklore at Bar-Ilan University.
Noy died on 29 September 2013, in Jerusalem.
Noy was married to historian ; their son Chaim Noy is a media and communication professor. He was married before, and had two sons, poet Amos Noy and Izhar.
Among his students are , Dan Ben-Amos, Aliza Shenhar, , , Haya Bar-Itzhak, and Galit Hasan-Rokem. Noy was known for his "astounding memory" and good sense of humor. Noy was fluent in English, Hebrew, Yiddish, Polish, Russian, and German.
|
|
