xiii The Publications of Michael V. Fox: Overview and Bibliography Lawrence J. Mykytiuk Purdue University The subtle achievement of the published works written by Professor Fox is that they are well focused without being narrowly restricted. Except for re- views, the majority of his writings relate either to Egyptian literature (mainly wisdom and love songs) or to one or another of five biblical books. All of his first book and fully half of his second (both 1985) are devoted to Egyptian love songs, providing translations, philological notes, and hieroglyphic transcrip- tions that include much previously unavailable material. Equally significant is his treatment of Egyptian wisdom literature, chiefly in journal articles. His ad- vances in both areas of research succeed in improving our understanding of the ancient “culture of the Nile” and in providing in-depth background for the study of particular biblical writings. Professor Fox’s books on biblical literature fall into a three-phase progres- sion. The initial phase includes Qohelet, viewed in the light of ancient Near Eastern wisdom, and the Song of Songs compared with Egyptian love songs. If we classify his two chapter-length commentaries on those biblical books (1986) as short monographs and group them with his dissertation (1972) 1 and the two books published in 1985 and the one in 1987 (see below under “books”), the biblical focus of his first six major works is Qohelet and Song of Songs. It is in this phase that his work on Egyptian parallels serves as a discernible base for his comments on the Hebrew literature. The second phase begins with two books on Esther in 1991 and a rereading of Qohelet in 1999. Although interrupted by the first volume of his commen- tary on Proverbs (2000), it continues with a further treatment of Esther (2001) and a Jewish Publication Society popular commentary on Qohelet (2004). The third, and current, phase of his work, begun with his first volume on Proverbs, includes the second volume of his commentary plus a text-critical 1. Michael V. Fox, hmkjh tlwksal wsjyw tlhq rps (The Book of Qohelet and Its Re- lation to the Wisdom School), Ph.D. diss., The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1972 (276 pages).