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Introduction to Old Yiddish Literature - Oxford Scholarship Online
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Introduction to Old Yiddish Literature

Jean Baumgarten and Jerold C. Frakes

Abstract

This book provides a survey of the broad and deep literary tradition in Yiddish. The book is a study of an entire culture via its literature, and thus it sees literature in a broad sense. It begins with four chapters addressing pertinent issues of the larger cultural context of the literature and moves on to a consideration of the primary genres in which the culture is expressed: epic, romance, prose narrative, drama, biblical translation and commentary, ethical and moral treatises, prayers, and the broad range of literature of daily use — medical, legal, and historical.

Keywords: literary tradition, Yiddish, literature, cultural context, epic romance, prose narrative, drama, biblical translation, commentary, prayers

Bibliographic Information

Print publication date: 2005 Print ISBN-13: 9780199276332
Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: October 2011 DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199276332.001.0001

Authors

Affiliations are at time of print publication.

Jean Baumgarten, author
Directeur de Recherche (CNRS), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Centre d'Études Juives, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales

Jerold C. Frakes, editor
Professor of Comparative Literature, University of Southern California

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Contents

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Front Matter

Title Pages

Author's Preface to the French Edition

Author's Preface to the English Edition

Editor and Translator's Preface

Abbreviations

1 The Invention of a Language: Yiddish among the European Vernaculars

Jean Baumgarten, and Jerold C. Frakes

2 The Emergence of Yiddish Literature and the Crisis in Jewish Society

Jean Baumgarten, and Jerold C. Frakes

3 The Printing, Distribution, and Audience of Yiddish Books

Jean Baumgarten, and Jerold C. Frakes

4 Bilingualism and the Development of Old Yiddish Literature

Jean Baumgarten, and Jerold C. Frakes

5 Yiddish Bibles

Jean Baumgarten, and Jerold C. Frakes

6 Medieval Epic and Romance in Yiddish

Jean Baumgarten, and Jerold C. Frakes

7 Elia Levita and the Romanzo Cavalleresco

Jean Baumgarten, and Jerold C. Frakes

8 Books of Morality and Conduct

Jean Baumgarten, and Jerold C. Frakes

9 Prayer in the Vernacular

Jean Baumgarten, and Jerold C. Frakes

10 Yiddish Narrative

Jean Baumgarten, and Jerold C. Frakes

11 Terrestrial Suffering in a Topsy-Turvy World

Jean Baumgarten, and Jerold C. Frakes

Conclusion: From the Old to the New

Jean Baumgarten, and Jerold C. Frakes

End Matter

Glossary

Bibliography

Index