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Yiddish: Biography of a Language
The most widely spoken Jewish language on the eve of the Holocaust, Yiddish continues to play a significant role in Jewish life today, from Hasidim for whom it is a language of daily life to avant-garde performers, political activists, and LGBTQ writers turning to Yiddish for inspiration. Yiddish: Biography of a Language presents the story of this centuries-old language, the defining vernacular of Ashkenazi Jews, from its origins to the present.
Jeffrey Shandler tells the multifaceted history of Yiddish in the form of a biographical profile, revealing surprising insights through a series of thematic chapters. He addresses key aspects of Yiddish as the language of a diasporic population, whose speakers have always used more than one language. As the vernacular of a marginalized minority, Yiddish has often been held in low regard compared to other languages, and its legitimacy as a language has been questioned. But some devoted Yiddish speakers have championed the language as embodying the essence of Jewish culture and a defining feature of a Jewish national identity. Despite predictions of the demise of Yiddish-dating back well before half of its speakers were murdered during the Holocaust-the language leads a vibrant, evolving life to this day.
Jeffrey Shandler tells the multifaceted history of Yiddish in the form of a biographical profile, revealing surprising insights through a series of thematic chapters. He addresses key aspects of Yiddish as the language of a diasporic population, whose speakers have always used more than one language. As the vernacular of a marginalized minority, Yiddish has often been held in low regard compared to other languages, and its legitimacy as a language has been questioned. But some devoted Yiddish speakers have championed the language as embodying the essence of Jewish culture and a defining feature of a Jewish national identity. Despite predictions of the demise of Yiddish-dating back well before half of its speakers were murdered during the Holocaust-the language leads a vibrant, evolving life to this day.
264 pages, Hardcover
Published October 19, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
April 27, 2021
I love languages and was fascinated by this book. Considering Yiddish as someone to write a biography about, Shandler takes us on a wonderful historical journey of the language looking at background on the language, use of the language, controversy about the language and its use today. Sometimes he rambled on or repeated topics, thus four stars not 5.
May 25, 2024
as a descendant of Yiddish speakers, interesting to learn about the history of the language and it's speakers, the debates going on a century ago about speaking "Old World" languages, leaving it behind to develop Modern Hebrew, or championing the language as a great European language in its own right.
February 15, 2021
Very readable!
This is an excellent summary and provocative analysis of the history and significance of Yiddish. It says some familiar things better than other authors, as well as presenting ideas new to me, and is as close to a page-turner as an academic book can be.
This is an excellent summary and provocative analysis of the history and significance of Yiddish. It says some familiar things better than other authors, as well as presenting ideas new to me, and is as close to a page-turner as an academic book can be.
December 19, 2020
Brilliant synthesis of Yiddish language’s history.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews