Antonio’s Devils

Writers of the Jewish Enlightenment and the Birth of Modern Hebrew and Yiddish Literature

Jeremy Asher Dauber

• Publisher: Stanford University Press
• Year: 2004
• Print ISBN: 9780804749015
• eBook ISBN: 9780804767279
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Jewish Literary Criticism
• Index: Literature

Antonio's Devils deals both historically and theoretically with the origins of modern Hebrew and Yiddish literature by tracing the progress of a few remarkable writers who, for various reasons and in various ways, cited Scripture for their own purpose, as Antonio's "devil," Shylock, does in The Merchant of Venice.

By examining the work of key figures in the early history of Jewish literature through the prism of their allusions to classical Jewish texts, the book focuses attention on the magnificent and highly complex strategies the maskilim employed to achieve their polemical and ideological goals. Dauber uses this methodology to examine foundational texts by some of the Jewish Enlightenment's most interesting and important authors, reaching new and often surprising conclusions.

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Half title
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Note on Orthography
• List of Abbreviations
• Part One. Setting the Stage
• Part Two. Prussia
• Part Three. Galicia
• Part Four. Coda
• Bibliography
• Index
• Back Cover