Robert Bernard Alter (born 1935)[1] is an American professor of Hebrew and comparative literature at the University of California, Berkeley, where he has taught since 1967.

Robert Alter was born in a Jewish American family, and first learned Hebrew as part of his religious upbringing.

[4] He lectures on topics ranging from biblical episodes[vague] to Kafka's modernism and Hebrew literature.

One of Alter's contributions is the introduction of the type scene into contemporary scholarly Hebrew Bible studies.

[8] In 2009, he was the recipient of the Robert Kirsch Award (Los Angeles Times) for lifetime contribution to American letters.