Revolutionary Roots of Modern Yiddish, 1903-1917
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A01=Barry Trachtenberg
Author_Barry Trachtenberg
Category=CBX
Category=JBSR
cultural history
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eq_dictionaries-language-reference
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
Jewish studies
literary criticism
Russian Jewry
Yiddish literature
Product details
- ISBN 9780815631903
- Weight: 489g
- Dimensions: 159 x 235mm
- Publication Date: 18 Dec 2008
- Publisher: Syracuse University Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
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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 is assistant professor of European Jewish Studies at the University at Albany, SUNY. He has published articles in the Journal of Modern Jewish Studies and Science in Context, as well as in several edited volumes. He is the recipient of a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities for his work on Yiddish in the twentieth century.
