Author Description

The book analyzes the ropes of tradition that characterize Yiddish Literature and are fundamental for the understanding of any literary work in Yiddish (levels of intertextuality") as well as the thematization of language and Diaspora characterizing all Yiddish works ("discourse levels"). It follows a chronological outline of the history of Yiddish literature from the Middle-Ages up to the present. The centrally time-frame treated spans from the 1880s until the beginning of the 21st Century, i.e. it extends from the beginning of a modern Yiddish Literature up to that critical point where clear predictions about its future are not yet possible. In this outline the inter-war period moves into the center where Yiddish modernism has achieved a climax as a result of the dispute on divergent concepts of identity and ideology. – The incision of the Shoah and its impact on Yiddish culture are treated in central examples (Jacob Glatstein, Melech Ravich, Abraham Sutzkever and so on). Also are discussed motivic examples, by which are shown once again exemplarily all the mayor trends in Yiddish literature to the present. Finally current trends in Yiddish Literature, but also in Yiddish Studies, are analysed."