Introduction to Old Yiddish Literature [Hardcover]

Jean Baumgarten (Author), Jerold C. Frakes (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 11, 2005 | ISBN-10: 0199276331 | ISBN-13: 978-0199276332

The field of early Yiddish studies has so far only been accessible to specialist scholars. This remarkable study opens up to a more general audience the cultural richness of that broad and deep corpus of literature that stretches from its beginnings in the Middle Ages to the mid-eighteenth century. The literature spans a wide spectrum of genres, from love lyric to kabbalistic treatises, and from travelogue to Renaissance adventure epic. The diverse world of Ashkenazic Jewry comes alive in this survey of its literature.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Jerold Frakes's translation and revision of Jean Baumgarten's history of Old Yiddish literature is a welcome addition to the limited library of books in English on early Yiddish language and literature; Baumgarten's book is the best available history of and introduction to Yiddish literature of the medieval and early modern periods. It is a work that anyone with an interest in the development of vernacular literature or in religion and literature in the medieval and early modern periods should know."--David Elton Gay, Sixteenth Century Journal

About the Author

Jean Baumgarten is Directeur de Recherche (CNRS), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Centre des Hautes Etudes Juives, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales. Jerold C. Frakes is Professor of Comparative Literature, University of Southern California.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 488 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (August 11, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0199276331
• ISBN-13: 978-0199276332
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,814,334 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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