Ariel Horowitz

Ariel Horowitz is a Ph.D. candidate in Comparative Literature, focusing on Jewish literature and thought in the second half of the twentieth century. His dissertation presents a comparative analysis of the concept of redemption in the writings of Hannah Arendt, Philip Roth, and S. Y. Agnon, asking how do these writers grapple with the notion of redemption, and with a philosophy of a teleologic and progressive history, and what alternatives to this worldview these writers cultivate after 1945. Ariel is also interested in the interplay between literature and historiography, in modern Jewish mythologies and in the American Jewish experience in literature and film. His academic work has appeared in Prooftexts and in Humanities.

At Stanford, Ariel coordinates The Contemporary, an interdisciplinary focal group dedicated to modern and contemporary literature, theory, philosophy, history, and art. In the past, Ariel coordinated Stanford's Hebrew Literature Workshop, an interdisciplinary group of Stanford faculty and students centered around Hebrew literature and culture. 

Ariel holds a BA in Comparative Literature and Philosophy, and an MA in Comparative Literature, both from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His MA thesis focused on the writings of Jewish mysticism scholar Gershom Scholem and Israeli novelist Yaakov Shabtai, with relation to secularism and messianism. 

Ariel is also a novelist: his debut novel, Our Finest, was published in Hebrew with Keter Publishing House in 2021; his second novel, The Ghost Editor, was published with Keter in 2024. Both novels have been critically acclaimed and became bestsellers. For his creative writing, Ariel has received the 2024 Levi Eshkol Literary Award. His essays and literary works have appeared in venues such as Granta, Haaretz, Jewish Review of Books, and Oh! Literary Journal.  

Teaching at Stanford:

• Winter 2026: Literature and the Historical Event
• Spring 2025: Redemption and Jewish Modernity (co-taught with Prof. Amir Eshel)
• Spring 2024: The Novel and The World (Teaching Assistant)
• Winter 2024: Literature and the Brain (Teaching Assistant)
• Spring 2023: Contemporary Theory Lab (Teaching Assistant)
• Winter 2023: The Jewish Short Story (Teaching Assistant)
• Fall 2022-2023: Hebrew Forum