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Medieval Studies
King Artus: A Hebrew Arthurian Romance of 1279
A rarity of enormous interest, this refurbished Hebrew translation of an Arthurian romance is the only known text of its kind in existence. Based on the writings of an anonymous Italian Jew in 1279, the author presents two stories. The first relates Merlin's role in the seductions of Igerna by Pendragon and the consequent birth of Arthur. The second tells of Arthur's rise to royal glory, of Lancelot's affair with Guinevere, his meeting with the Maid of Askalot, and his skill at a jousting tournament. This romance exists in a unique copy at the Vatican Library, which Curt Leviant personally examined. He offers a highly readable version of that text in corrected Hebrew with graceful English transliteration on facing pages, and an analysis of Jewish aspects of the piece. He also traces its origins to an Old French tale. Not just a literary curiosity, this is at once fine scholarship and compelling proof of the vibrant interaction between Judaism and other cultures of medieval Europe.
126 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
59 people want to read
About the author
Curt Leviant
45 books4 followersCurt Leviant (born 1932, Vienna) is a retired Jewish Studies professor, as well as a novelist and translator.
He came to the United States in 1938. His 1957 master's thesis was on Lamed Shapiro. 1966 doctoral thesis was a translation with commentary, published in 1969 as King Artur: A Hebrew Authurian Romance of 1279.
Leviant was also a book reviewer, usually of Jewish authors, with reviews appearing in The New York Times, The Nation, and other publications, especially Jewish media. In more recent years, he has been, co-authoring with his wife, a Jewish travel writer.
According to Lewis Fried, "his fiction is nuanced, surprising, and often arabesque, dealing with the demands of the present and the claims of the past."
His parents were Jacques and Fenia Leviant. They spoke Yiddish at home, and encouraged their son's interest in Yiddish literature and theater. He married Erika Leah Pfeifer, they had three daughters, Dalya, Dvora, Shulamit.
His degrees[6] are a BA from CUNY (Brooklyn), an MA from Columbia, and a PhD from Rutgers, where he taught Hebraic studies from 1960.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curt_Le...
He came to the United States in 1938. His 1957 master's thesis was on Lamed Shapiro. 1966 doctoral thesis was a translation with commentary, published in 1969 as King Artur: A Hebrew Authurian Romance of 1279.
Leviant was also a book reviewer, usually of Jewish authors, with reviews appearing in The New York Times, The Nation, and other publications, especially Jewish media. In more recent years, he has been, co-authoring with his wife, a Jewish travel writer.
According to Lewis Fried, "his fiction is nuanced, surprising, and often arabesque, dealing with the demands of the present and the claims of the past."
His parents were Jacques and Fenia Leviant. They spoke Yiddish at home, and encouraged their son's interest in Yiddish literature and theater. He married Erika Leah Pfeifer, they had three daughters, Dalya, Dvora, Shulamit.
His degrees[6] are a BA from CUNY (Brooklyn), an MA from Columbia, and a PhD from Rutgers, where he taught Hebraic studies from 1960.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curt_Le...
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 29, 2015
Not a bad rendition of Arthurian material, but not a particularly interesting version either. Containing no remarkable variations from the story as given in the French Lancelot-Grail cycle (the most important continental iteration of the Arthurian material found here), and comprising only a small portion of the Death of Arthur arc along with some introductory material about Arthur's birth, really the only thing of note about the Hebrew Arthurian Romance is that it exists - that a mediaeval Italian Jew decided to translate an Italian Arthur-romance into Hebrew, though he didn't get very far with it.
May 10, 2021
If you are at all into Arthuriana this is a must for your collection.
October 16, 2022
V interesting insight on King Arthur and especially Medieval Arthurian Romances as a whole!
October 24, 2009
Arthurian scholars may already know the contents of this fragmentary translation of an Italian work: Uther's trickery of Igraine (here called Izerna), Lancelot's lust for Guinevere (here called Zinerva), and the quest for the Holy Grail (here transformed into a Jewish tamchuy, or charity dish).
More fascinating than the lengthy opening apology for secular literature is the translator's many conversions of the story into Biblical and Rabbinic language. Leviant might have followed his own footnote and rendered "This is the history of Sir Lancelot" as "These are the days of the generations of Sir Lancelot"; the text gestures towards the meaning of Lancelot's name with "is it not written in the book concerning him?"; Lancelot swears by "ha-shem," the Name, during a lascivious conversation with Guinevere; and knights during a tournament shout "Praised be the living God!." I'm a little less certain, however, about Leviant's translation of the odd ending of the work: "[there:] fell many knights, one after another like lambs, and [Lancelot:] cut throats of horses like pumpkins." Pumpkins? I'm not qualified to judge Leviant's translation, but pumpkins seems unlikely, since I doubt that pumpkins would have been known to our anonymous author.
The edition comes with a wealth of supplemental material in which Leviant discusses the Judaizing work of the translator, proposes that Malory and this work drew on a common, now lost, source for certain scenes, and, especially, argues against the clever scholars who have traced motifs in the Arthur and Tristan legends to Celtic prehistorical Gods, to subcontinental folk tales, and to classical myth; instead, he says, look closer to home, in the Bible (Uther and Igraine as David and Bathsheba, Tristan and Mark as David and Saul, Tristan and Morholt as David and Goliath, etc.), and in the Midrash, which Christian scholars would have known in the twelfth century through the work of Andrew and Hugh of St Victor and Siegebert of Gemblous. He makes a strong case for this, noting that details in the David story specific to the Midrash, to Rashi's commentary in particular, appear in the stories of Arthur and Tristan. In some cases, I think he strains his case, but I think a bit of scholarly bomb-throwing is always necessary to shift the paradigm. No doubt scholarship in the 40+ years since Leviant's edition first appeared has refined his point, but I doubt the Celticists--particularly the badly disguised 'white pride' Celtic hobbyists--can ignore the evidence that Jewish storytelling and scholarship at least had something to do with the shape of these tales and their supposed preservation of the 'authentic' pre-Christian past of Europe.
I'd be happier with the edition, however, if it appeared in a larger volume of secular Jewish medieval writing. There are fabliaux, fables, and love stories, all of which could be collected in one volume that might cost as much as this one ($25) and thus be more suitable for classroom use in a good Comp Lit course.
More fascinating than the lengthy opening apology for secular literature is the translator's many conversions of the story into Biblical and Rabbinic language. Leviant might have followed his own footnote and rendered "This is the history of Sir Lancelot" as "These are the days of the generations of Sir Lancelot"; the text gestures towards the meaning of Lancelot's name with "is it not written in the book concerning him?"; Lancelot swears by "ha-shem," the Name, during a lascivious conversation with Guinevere; and knights during a tournament shout "Praised be the living God!." I'm a little less certain, however, about Leviant's translation of the odd ending of the work: "[there:] fell many knights, one after another like lambs, and [Lancelot:] cut throats of horses like pumpkins." Pumpkins? I'm not qualified to judge Leviant's translation, but pumpkins seems unlikely, since I doubt that pumpkins would have been known to our anonymous author.
The edition comes with a wealth of supplemental material in which Leviant discusses the Judaizing work of the translator, proposes that Malory and this work drew on a common, now lost, source for certain scenes, and, especially, argues against the clever scholars who have traced motifs in the Arthur and Tristan legends to Celtic prehistorical Gods, to subcontinental folk tales, and to classical myth; instead, he says, look closer to home, in the Bible (Uther and Igraine as David and Bathsheba, Tristan and Mark as David and Saul, Tristan and Morholt as David and Goliath, etc.), and in the Midrash, which Christian scholars would have known in the twelfth century through the work of Andrew and Hugh of St Victor and Siegebert of Gemblous. He makes a strong case for this, noting that details in the David story specific to the Midrash, to Rashi's commentary in particular, appear in the stories of Arthur and Tristan. In some cases, I think he strains his case, but I think a bit of scholarly bomb-throwing is always necessary to shift the paradigm. No doubt scholarship in the 40+ years since Leviant's edition first appeared has refined his point, but I doubt the Celticists--particularly the badly disguised 'white pride' Celtic hobbyists--can ignore the evidence that Jewish storytelling and scholarship at least had something to do with the shape of these tales and their supposed preservation of the 'authentic' pre-Christian past of Europe.
I'd be happier with the edition, however, if it appeared in a larger volume of secular Jewish medieval writing. There are fabliaux, fables, and love stories, all of which could be collected in one volume that might cost as much as this one ($25) and thus be more suitable for classroom use in a good Comp Lit course.
March 1, 2024
Does what it says on the tin quite effectively. Although the actual Hebrew text we have is very short (only 20 pages!) and not an original story, it's still fantastic to know that so many different cultures have always been intrigued by Arthurian legend.
And so the journey goes: Britain (Middle English) -> France (Old French) -> Italy (Hebrew) -> USA (Modern English). Wonder how far into the future people will still be entralled with tales of King Arthur and his knights.
And so the journey goes: Britain (Middle English) -> France (Old French) -> Italy (Hebrew) -> USA (Modern English). Wonder how far into the future people will still be entralled with tales of King Arthur and his knights.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews