| | | |  Studies in Yiddish is the only scholarly series in English that is dedicated to Yiddish, a transnational language whose interesting, if sometimes tragic, history spans more than a thousand years. Its high and low literary and non-literary texts and practices have been of central importance not only to Jewish existence and history but also to the wider cultural and creative life in Central and Eastern Europe, Israel and the New World. The series regularly publishes the proceedings of the International Mendel Friedman Conference, which is convened every two years at the University of Oxford. In addition, the series includes monographs and edited volumes on all aspects of Yiddish language and culture, and proposals for new publications are welcomed.
This series does not have a formal Editorial Committee, but we are advised by: - Professor Gennady Estraikh, New York University
- Dr Kerstin Hoge, St Hilda’s College, Oxford
- Professor Mikhail Krutikov, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Published 1999
Published 2000
Published 2001 | Yiddish and the Left: Papers of the Third Mendel Friedman International Conference on Yiddish
Edited by Gennady Estraikh and Mikhail Krutikov
Studies In Yiddish 3 - ‘The international roster of contributors covers an impressively broad range of topics... linked by a common thematic thread, the attempt of progressive Yiddish-language writers, intellectuals and activists to reconcile their competing allegiances to the Jewish poeple or religion and their leftist politics. The uniformly high quality of the collection and its breadth of topics and approaches makes it an important contribution to interdisciplinary Yiddish studies and to related fields of enquiry (foreign language and immigrant journalism, bilingual education, minority and exile literatures, African colonial literature, Soviet studies).’ — Elizabeth Loentz, Modern Language Review 98.4, 2003, 1066-7
- ‘The quality of all the essays is no less than would be expected from the list of contributors, but particularly worthy of mention are Estraikh’s analysis of the presence and representation of the Soviet Union in the New York-based communist daily Morga-frayhayt, Dafna Clifford’s reflections on the Berlin period of author David Bergelson, and Efraim Zadoff’s exploration of the educational systems of the Ashkenazi communities of Argentina and Mexico.’ — unsigned notice, Forum for Modern Language Studies XL.1, 2004, 120
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Published 2003 | The Jewish Pope: Myth, Diaspora and Yiddish Literature
Joseph Sherman
Studies In Yiddish 4 - ‘Although I cannot concur fully with all of Sherman’s conclusions, the building-blocks of his narrative (the examination of the Joseph story as the master narrative of the Jewish Pope myth, as well as the analyses of individual reworkings of the myth) are truly insightful, meticulously researched, and masterfully argued. His book is an important contribution to Jewish literary and cultural studies and will also be of great interest to students and scholars of folklore.’ — Elizabeth Loentz, Modern Language Review 100.4, October 2005, 1160-62
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Published September 2005
Published August 2007 | David Bergelson: From Modernism to Socialist Realism — Proceedings of the 6th Mendel Friedman Conference
Edited by Joseph Sherman and Gennady Estraikh
Studies In Yiddish 6 - ‘A happy balance between text and context... everything from a close reading of his works to an examination of the literary, historical and cultural context in which those works were produced. This book is, in effect, more than the examination of the works of one author.’ — Eric Dickens, Three Percent March 2008
- ‘Once more the Legenda imprint brings us an exemplary collection of essays on Yiddish literature... A magisterial study of exceptional factual richness which will remain a major source-work on this topic for years to come.’ — Hugh Denman, Modern Language Review 104.1, January 2009, 297-99
- ‘Bergelson was arrested early in 1949 and executed in August 1952. His work has largely fallen into oblivion... There is thus all the more reason to welcome this collection of essays. It includes a biographical study by [Joseph] Sherman and essays by various people on different aspects of Bergelson’s fiction, among them a fascinating account of conflicts with Abe Cahan, editor of Forverts.’ — Antony Polonsky, Times Literary Supplement 2 May 2008, 23
- ‘The editors have done a remarkable job collecting essays that finally put Bergelson on the map of literary and historical scholarship. This is the necessary first step in assuring that the contribution made by this important Yiddish writer to the development of world’s literature does not remain unnoticed.’ — Anna Shternshis, H-Judaic January 2009
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Published November 2008 | Yiddish in the Cold War
Gennady Estraikh
Studies In Yiddish 7 - ‘This meticulously researched book is the first comprehensive English-language study of Yiddish in the Communist world after the murder of Soviet Yiddish writers on 12 August 1952. Estraikh’s story more or less begins where everyone else’s ends. For this alone, Estraikh’s book is an important corrective to our understanding of Yiddish in general, and Soviet Yiddish culture in particular. Just because Stalin said he’d killed off Yiddish culture didn’t make it so... Full of amazing research.’ — David Shneer, East European Jewish Affairs 39.3, December 2009, 401–413
- ‘Yiddish in the Cold War tells an important story in the history of twentieth-century Yiddish. The book’s focus on the internal machinations of the editorial boards of Communist Yiddish periodicals, though, cuts short any broader observations about the Cold War per se... One hopes that Estraikh’s new work will stimulate more research into Yiddish culture in the postwar Soviet Union.’ — Jeffrey Veidlinger, The Russian Review 69.1, January 2009, 173-74
- ‘A carefully researched monograph about a hitherto hidden corner of Yiddish culture during a period of contraction.’ — Zachary M. Baker, Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies 28.4, Summer 2010, 190-92
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Published 12 April 2010 | Yiddish in Weimar Berlin: At the Crossroads of Diaspora Politics and Culture
Edited by Gennady Estraikh and Mikhail Krutikov
Studies In Yiddish 8 - ‘In the 1920s, Yiddish was more than just a lingua franca for East European Jewish émigrés; it was also a language of high culture, as demonstrated by a brilliant new book, Yiddish in Weimar Berlin: At the Crossroads of Diaspora Politics and Culture.’ — Benjamin Ivry, The Arty Semite Online
- ‘To be commended for keeping alive the names, literary output, and civilization of a Yiddish world that is lost forever.’ — Ellen Share, Association of Jewish Libraries Reviews February/March 2011, 15
- ‘There are many interesting articles in this volume. It is clear that in this brief period of flourishing Yiddish cultural activity there is much to disentangle. Berlin is a cultural and political hub in the Weimar period. An influx of multilingual Jews... enter a German Jewish world within a German world. Each of these ‘migrants’ arrives with existing cultural attachments into a war-time/post-war landscape which is signalling all kinds of modernisms. Some Yiddish writers in Berlin acknowledge the city in their literary work, others do not or only minimally. Berlin often emerges later once writers have moved elsewhere and begin to ‘recreate their past’.’ — Helen Beer, Slavonic and East European Review 90.2, April 2012, 332-34
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Published 28 March 2011
Published 1 June 2012 | |
