MENDELE Yiddish Language and Literature Personal Notices and Announcements Dec. 23, 2008
To minimize wear and tear on the untershames, three requests: 1. Send time-sensitive notices well in advance. 2. Send material as plain text: no HTML, other coding, or attachments. 3. Correspond directly with the person who or organization which has posted the notice, *not* with your ever-beleaguered untershames. ____________________________________________________________________ Date: Thu, 4 Dec 2008 21:08:51 -0500 From: Barry Trachtenberg <[email protected]> Subject: Publication of The Revolutionary Roots of Modern Yiddish, 1903-1917 I'm pleased to announce the publication of The Revolutionary Roots of Modern Yiddish, 1903-1917 from Syracuse University Press. Description At the beginning of the twentieth century, Yiddish was widely viewed, even by many of its speakers, as a corrupt form of German that Jews had to abandon if they hoped to engage in serious intellectual, cultural, or political work. Yet by 1917 it was the dominant language of the Russian Jewish press, a medium for modern literary criticism, a vehicle for science and learning, and the foundation of an ideology of Jewish liberation. The Revolutionary Roots of Modern Yiddish, 1903-1917 investigates how this change in status occurred and three major figures responsible for its transformation. Trachtenberg reveals how, following the model set by other nationalist movements that were developing in the Russian empire, one-time revolutionaries such as the literary critic Shmuel Niger, the Marxist Zionist leader Ber Borochov, and the linguist Nokhem Shtif committed themselves to the creation of a new branch of Jewish scholarship dedicated to their native language. The new "Yiddish science" was concerned with the tasks of standardizing Yiddish grammar, orthography, and word corpus; establishing a Yiddish literary tradition; exploring Jewish folk traditions; and creating an institutional structure to support their language's development. In doing so, the author argues, they hoped to reimagine Russian Jewry as a modern nation with a mature language and culture and one that deserved the same collective rights and autonomy that were being demanded by other groups in the empire. Barry Trachtenberg Assistant Professor Judaic Studies Department University at Albany (SUNY) Albany, NY 12222 [email protected] _____________________________________________________________________ Please do not use the "reply" key when responding to Personal Notices & Announcements. Instead, write directly to the person or organization posting the material. New material for Mendele Personal Notices & Announcements, i.e. announcements of events, commercial publications, etc., always in plain text (no HTML or the like) to: victor.bers at yale.edu (in the subject line write Mendele Personal) Material responding to postings on Mendele Yiddish literature and language, or new inquiries and comments of a non-commercial or publicity nature: mendele at mailman.yale.edu IMPORTANT: Please include your full name as you would like it to appear in your posting. No posting will appear without its author's name. In order to spare time and effort, the shamosim request that contributors adhere, when applicable, as closely as possible to standard English punctuation, grammar, etc. and to the YIVO rules of transliteration into the Roman alphabet. All other messages to the shamosim: mendele at mailman.yale.edu Mendele on the web: http://shakti.trincoll.edu/~mendele/index.htm To join or leave the list: http://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/mendele _______________________________________________ Mendele mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/mendele
