Murray Roston

Prof. Murray Roston
Born	(1928-12-10) 10 December 1928 London, England
Residence	Israel
Fields	English literature
Institutions	Bar-Ilan University University of California, Los Angeles
Alma mater	Queens’ College, Cambridge University of London

Murray (Meir) Roston (Hebrew: מאיר רוסטון‎; born 1928) is an Israeli Emeritus professor of English Literature at Bar-Ilan University.

Biography

Roston was born in London, on December 10, 1928. He won the Open Classics Scholarship to Queens’ College, Cambridge, and after obtaining a degree in classics, transferred to English literature for a Ph.D. from the University of London. He emigrated to Israel in 1956, to a position at Bar Ilan University where he is now Emeritus Professor of English. Roston taught a number of times as a visiting professor at Stanford University, as well as at the University of Virginia. In 1988-90 he was appointed Dean of Humanities Faculty at Bar Ilan. In 1999, he was appointed to the permanent faculty at UCLA as Adjunct Professor, and subsequently taught there every third year, while retaining his position in Israel. Roston is a member of numerous Editorial and Advisory Boards and he was a member of Academic Council, and Director of Humanities Program, of Open University of Israel.

Research

Roston is an interdisciplinary scholar, author of a series of books examining how a knowledge of contemporary changes in the visual arts can illumine our understanding of parallel developments in literature. His Changing Perspectives in literature and the visual arts was rated ‘Outstanding’ by Choice, described there as: "A sumptuous book… of paramount significance to literary studies, to cultural and art history, and to aesthetics".^[1] Milton and the Baroque was similarly described by the Times Literary Supplement as: "a study which itself partakes of the power and brilliance of his subject".^[2] He has published six books on the interrelationship with the arts, as well as a number of other books on themes ranging from the Renaissance to the 20th-century. His most recent book, The Comic Mode in English Literature, was, in Choice’s annual review, rated one of the Outstanding Academic titles of 2012.^[3]

Personal life

In 1956, Roston married Faith Lehrman. Shortly afterwards, they emigrated to Israel, living for many years in Kiryat Ono but recently moving to Nordiya, near Netanya. Their three daughters ‒ Yardenna (married to Professor Alex Lubotzky), Nina, and Yonit ‒ have provided them with fifteen grandchildren, and a growing number of great-grandchildren.

Published works