The Schocken Book of Modern Sephardic Literature by Ilan Stavans

The Schocken Book of Modern Sephardic Literature by Ilan Stavans

The expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492 gave rise to a series of rich, diverse diasporas that were interconnected through a common vision and joie de vivre. The exodus took these Sephardim to other European countries; to North Africa, Asia Minor, and South America; and, eventually, to the American colonies. In each community new literary and artistic forms grew out of the melding of their Judeo-Spanish legacy with the cultures of their host countries, and that process has continued to the present day. This multilingual tradition brought with it both opportunities and challenges that will resonate within any contemporary culture: the status of minorities within the larger society; the tension between a civil, democratic tradition and the anti-Semitism ready to undermine it; and the opposing forces of religion and secularism.

Ilan Stavans has been described by The Washington Post as Latin America's liveliest and boldest critic and most innovative cultural enthusiast. And the Forward calls him a maverick intellectual whose canonical work has already produced a whole array of marvels that are redefining Jewishness. This new anthology contains fiction, memoirs, essays, and poetry from twenty-eight writers who span more than 150 years. Included are Emma Lazarus's legendary poem The New Colossus, inscribed on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty; the hypnotizing prose of Greece-born, Switzerland-based Albert Cohen; Nobel--Prize winner Elias Canetti's ruminations on Europe before World War I; Albert Memmi's identity quest as an Arab Jew in France; Primo Levi's testimony on the Holocaust; and A. B. Yehoshua's epic stories set in Israel today.

When read together, these explorations offer an astonishingly incisive collective portrait of the other Jews, Sephardim who long for la Espa a perdida, their lost ancestral home, even as they create a vibrant, multifaceted literary tradition in exile.

Ilan Stavans is Lewis-Sebring Professor in Latin American and Latino Culture at Amherst College. A Guggenheim Fellow, he is the author, editor and translator of numerous books, including Thirteen Ways of Looking at Latino Art and Mutual Impressions: Writers of the Americas Reading One Another, both also published by Duke University Press. Stavans' television series for PBS, Conversations with Ilan Stavans, was nominated for three Emmy awards, and his writing has appeared in, and his writing has appeared in publications including the Washington Post, Newsweek, the Village Voice, the Nation, Salon, and the New York Times.

Joshua Ellison is Executive Editor of Restless Books and the founding editor of Habitus, a journal of international Jewish literature. His work has appeared in the New York Times and on National Public Radio.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780805242287
ISBN 10	0805242287
Title	The Schocken Book of Modern Sephardic Literature
Author	Ilan Stavans
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Schocken
Year published	2005-01-11
Number of pages	480
Prizes	Winner of National Jewish Book Award (Sephardic Culture) 2005
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.