Antonio's Devils

Jeremy Asher Dauber is the Atran Assistant Professor of Yiddish Language, Literature, and Culture at Columbia University.

"This fascinating new study of modern Hebrew and Yiddish literature is not only an excellent academic piece of work, but an accessible and compelling read." - The Jerusalem Post "The book not only offers an overview of the early poetic, linguistic, and social challenges of Yiddish and Hebrew literature; it invites the reader to examine the varied contexts of the Jewish Enlightenment as a means of better understanding Modern Jewish Culture." - Hebrew Studies "Dauber has produced a first-rate book, at once interesting and eminently readable, and both historians and students of Jewish literature will learn much. Given that this is a first book from a young scholar, Antonio's Devils is a most impressive offering, one that would elicit from his maskilic protagonists the hope that he produce books without limit." - SHOFAR "Dauber's textual exegesis is often very instructive."Jewish History

• Contents @toc4:Acknowledgmentsiii Note on Orthographyiii List of Abbreviationsiii @toc1:Part One Setting the Stage @toc2:1. Antonio's Devil: Shylock, Allusion, and the Birth of Modern Jewish Literature000 2. Allusion in a Jewish Key: Literary Theory and the Study of Haskala Literature000 3. Historical Background000 @toc3:I. The early Prussian Haskala (to the mid-1780s): Moses Mendelssohn II. Toward the 1790s: Radicalization, assimilation, and Wolfssohn III. Early 19th century Galicia: Joseph Perl @toc1:Part Two Prussia @toc2:4. Moses Mendelssohn000 @toc3:I. Introduction II. Biographical and social notes III. The early years: the Philosophical Writings and Kohelet Musar IV. Brief notes on the middle years V. Jerusalem VI. Conclusion @toc2:5. Aaron Halle-Wolfssohn000 @toc3:I. Introduction II. Wolfssohn's life and work III.Wolfssohn's new theater and writing in Yiddish IV. Laykhtzin un fremelay: a theoretical and textual introduction V. The characters VI. Conclusion @toc1:Part Three Galicia @toc2:6. Joseph Perl: Between Hebrew and Yiddish000 @toc3:I. Introduction II. Perl: A brief biography III. Perl's literary work: details and Jewish influences IV. Hasidic literature and Perl's Hasidic parodies V. Rabbi Nachman's Sipurei Maasiyot and Perl's parodic Tales and Letters VI. Perl's Tales and Letters: The frame letters VII. Perl's Tales and Letters: The "completion" of "The Tale of the Loss of the Princess" VIII. Perl's own parodic tale: "The Tale of the Loss of the Prince" @toc2:7. Joseph Perl: Megale Temirin000 @toc3:I. Introduction: The Shivkhei HaBesht II. Formal and historical details: the making of Megale Temirin III. Megale Temirin: the anti-Shivkhei HaBesht IV. Style: textual citation in Megale Temirin V. Hebrew and Yiddish versions of Megale Temirin VI. The battle of the books: dueling canons VII. The texts themselves: referentiality and transferability VIII. The texts themselves: non-transferred material IX: The texts themselves: transferred material VIII. Conclusion @toc1:Part Four Coda @toc2:Conclusion and Further Directions for Study000 @toc4:Bibliography000 Index000 Library of Congress Subject Headings for this publication: Jewish literature History and criticism, Haskalah, Jewish authors Biography, Pearl, Joseph