Ayala Amir

I earned my Ph.D. at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, where I taught for many years. What I like about teaching is the opportunity for dialogue. The intimate atmosphere of the department at Bar Illan allows for my preferable kind of teaching, which is discussion rather than frontal lectures. For me, learning is not a systematic, linear, accumulation of knowledge. In my view, knowledge and understanding come from different directions; something that is perceived eludes and than is unexpectedly reacquired – a dynamic which a good dialogue in class always illustrates. Everything I have researched recently was stimulated from my teaching experience, including the book I wrote on the American writer Raymond Carver, whose stories I taught in introductory classes to fiction. The book reflects my interest in modern fiction and theory of fiction, which have led me to the encounter between literature and the visual arts, especially photography.