The Hebrew Folktale by Eli Yassif

The Hebrew Folktale by Eli Yassif

"The most comprehensive account of its subject now available, this impressive study lives up to the encyclopedic promise of its title." —Choice The Hebrew Folktale seeks to find and define the folk-elements of Jewish culture. Through the use of generic distinctions and definitions developed in folkloristics, Yassif describes the major trends—structural, thematic, and functional—of folk narrative in the central periods of Jewish culture.

The most comprehensive account of its subject now available, this impressive study lives up to the encyclopedic promise of its titleYassif (Tel Aviv Univ.) examines the Hebrew folktale chronologically in the context of Jewish culture, and so affords thoughtful critical analyses of how the genre evolved and developed through the centuries in terms of the indigenous national literature. After an introduction describing the evolution of modern scholarship on the folktale, Yassif considers five historical periods: biblical, Second Temple, Rabbinic ,Middle Ages, and Changing World—the last delineating the Hasidic story, legends of saints in contemporary Israel, and tales of returning to the faith in a secular society. The discussion in each chapter is dense and lucid; Teitelbaum renders the original Hebrew in fluent, jargon—free English. Yassif brings an extraordinary amount of learning to his task, leaving this reviewer in no doubt that this volume will henceforth be the authoritative reference on the subject. It will also be an invaluable resource for students of narratology in general, since its exposition of folk narrative deals with such modes as the legend, the fable, the fairy tale, the comic tale, the saint's legend, among many other literary forms. Some 80 pages of notes add valuable information concerning source material. Upper—division undergraduates through faculty.

-- M. Butovsky * Choice *

Eli Yassif is professor emeritus of Hebrew literature and Jewish folklore at Tel-Aviv University. He is the author of many books and scholarly articles in the field of the Hebrew story in the Middle Ages and the history of Jewish folklore. His book The Hebrew Folktale: History, Genre, Meaning won the National Jewish Book Award in 2000 and became the standard textbook for the study of Jewish folk-narratives.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780253335838
ISBN 10	0253335833
Title	The Hebrew Folktale
Author	Eli Yassif
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Indiana University Press
Year published	2009-04-16
Number of pages	584
Prizes	Winner of National Jewish Book Award (Reference Works) 1999
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note	Unavailable