Metlitzki, Dorothee

▪ 2002

      American literary scholar, educator, and Jewish activist (b. July 27, 1914, Königsberg, East Prussia [now Kaliningrad, Russia]—d. April 14, 2001, Hamden, Conn.), was a noted scholar of medieval English and Arabic literature and of the works of Herman Melville. After completing her education at the University of London, Metlitzki moved to Jerusalem, where she helped found the English department at Hebrew University and, after the establishment of Israel in 1948, mustered support for the country while traveling around the world. She settled in the U.S. in 1954. Metlitzki taught at Yale University from 1964 until her retirement in 1984. In 1977 she published a major work in comparative literature, The Matter of Araby in Medieval England. Metlitzki's book Melville's Orienda (1961) also earned praise.

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