Iberian Jewish literature : between al-Andalus and Christian Europe

Author(s)

Bibliographic Information

Iberian Jewish literature : between al-Andalus and Christian Europe

Jonathan P. Decter

Indiana University Press, c2007

  • : cloth

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Note

Includes bibliographical references (p. 275-296) and index

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Description and Table of Contents

Description

This stimulating and graceful book explores Iberian Jewish attitudes toward cultural transition during the 12th and 13th centuries, when growing intolerance toward Jews in Islamic al-Andalus and the southward expansion of the Christian Reconquista led to the relocation of Jews from Islamic to Christian domains. By engaging literary topics such as imagery, structure, voice, landscape, and geography, Jonathan P. Decter traces attitudes toward transition that range from tenacious longing for the Islamic past to comfort in the Christian environment. Through comparison with Arabic and European vernacular literatures, Decter elucidates a medieval Hebrew poetics of estrangement and nostalgia, poetic responses to catastrophe, and the refraction of social issues in fictional narratives. Published with the generous support of the Koret Foundation.

Table of Contents

Preface Acknowledgments Introduction Part 1. Poetry 1. Space: Landscape and Transition 2. Form: Varieties of Lamentation and Estrangement 3. Imagery: The Protean Garden Part 2. Narrative 4. Context: Imagining Hebrew Fiction between Arabic and European Sources 5. Structure: Literature in Transition 6. Voice: Maqama and Morality 7. Space: Landscape, Geography, and Transition Conclusion: Out of the Garden Notes Bibliography Index

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