“Comme un roman” (Daniel Pennac): The Dynamics of Genre Diversity as a Compositional Principle in Seder Eliyahu

Instead of asking how a parable ‘works’ or what it ‘signifies’, I’d like to ask how and to what (literary) purpose(s) parables, benedictions, dialogues, lists and other ‘small forms’ are used in a Rabbinic midrash as a literary document. The title plays on the comparison of a midrash to a novel that is often characterized by the diversity of genres employed in it.