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Yiddish and Power surveys the social, linguistic and intellectual history of the Yiddish language within the traditional civilisation of Jewish Ashkenaz in central, and then in eastern Europe, and its interaction with the surrounding non-Jewish culture. It explores the various ways in which Yiddish has empowered masses and served political agendas.
List of contents
Introduction 1. A Yiddish Romance with Powerlessness PART I: OLD YIDDISH IN WESTERN ASHKENAZ 2. Gentile Culture Empowers Simple Jews 3. Power of the Printing Press 4. Women of Western Ashkenaz 5. The Neo-Religious and the Jewish-Secular 6. Power Shifts of West?East, Earlier?Later, Secular?Religious 7. Women (and Men) of Eastern Ashkenaz 8. Religious Theories of Yiddish PART II: TRANSITION IN THE WEST 9. Antisemitism Targets Yiddish 10. Jewish Enlightenment also targets Yiddish PART III: RISE IN THE EAST 11. Religious Power 12. Secular Power 13. Party Politics PART IV: MODERNITY 14. Interwar Encounters with Government Status 15. Yiddishless Yiddish Power, Powerless Yiddish
About the author
Dovid Katz is an international authority on Yiddish and Ashkenazic Jewish culture. He founded Yiddish studies at Oxford University, where he taught for 18 years, and then in Vilnius, where he was professor of Yiddish in Vilnius for 11 years. He has published many academic works in Yiddish studies in addition to three collections of original Yiddish fiction. He is also a leader of the movement against Holocaust revisionism in Eastern Europe. His websites are www.dovidkatz.net and www.DefendingHistory.com.
Summary
Yiddish and Power surveys the social, linguistic and intellectual history of the Yiddish language within the traditional civilisation of Jewish Ashkenaz in central, and then in eastern Europe, and its interaction with the surrounding non-Jewish culture. It explores the various ways in which Yiddish has empowered masses and served political agendas.
Additional text
“Katz’s book invites scholars of Yiddish and of vernacular languages generally, especially those spoken by minority peoples living in a diaspora, to think expansively about a language’s potential to empower its speakers. In the case of Yiddish, this approach is key to considering the state of the language today and tracking its future.” (Jeffrey Shandler, Journal of Jewish Languages, Vol. 4, 2016)
Report
"Katz's book invites scholars of Yiddish and of vernacular languages generally, especially those spoken by minority peoples living in a diaspora, to think expansively about a language's potential to empower its speakers. In the case of Yiddish, this approach is key to considering the state of the language today and tracking its future." (Jeffrey Shandler, Journal of Jewish Languages, Vol. 4, 2016)
