Double Diaspora in Sephardic Literature: Jewish Cultural Production Before and After 1492

316 Pages·2015·2.15 MB·English

by  David A. Wacks

DOUBLE DIASPORA IN
SEPHARDIC LITERATURE
Indiana Series in Sephardi and Mizrahi Studies
Harvey E. Goldberg and Matthias Lehmann, editors
DOUBLE DIASPORA

in
SEPHARDIC LITERATURE
JEWISH CULTURAL PRODUCTION
BEFORE AND AFTER 1492
S
david a. wack s
Indiana University Press
Bloomington & Indianapolis
This book is a publication of Manufactured in the United States of America
Indiana University Press Library of Congress
Office of Scholarly Publishing Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Herman B Wells Library 350
1320 East 10th Street Wacks, David A.
Bloomington, Indiana 47405 USA Double diaspora in Sephardic literature :
Jewish cultural production before
iupress.indiana.edu and after 1492 / David A. Wacks.
pages cm — (Indiana series in
Telephone [phone] Sephardi and Mizrahi studies)
Fax [phone] Includes bibliographical
references and index.
© 2015 by David A. Wacks ISBN 978-0-253-01572-3 (cloth : alk. paper)
— ISBN 978-0-253-01576-1 (ebook) 1. Jewish
All rights reserved literature—History and criticism. 2. Spanish
literature—Jewish authors—History and
No part of this book may be reproduced or criticism. 3. Sephardic authors. 4. Spanish
utilized in any form or by any means, electronic literature—13th century—History and
or mechanical, including photocopying criticism. 5. Spanish literature—Classical
and recording, or by any information period, 1500–1700—History and criticism.
storage and retrieval system, without 6. Spanish literature—Foreign countries—
permission in writing from the publisher. History and criticism. 7. Jewish diaspora in
The Association of American University literature. I. Title. II. Title: Jewish cultural
Presses’ Resolution on Permissions constitutes production before and after 1492.
the only exception to this prohibition. PN842.W33 2015
809’.88924046—dc23
The paper used in this publication 2014044168
meets the minimum requirements of the
American National Standard for Information
Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed
Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48–1992. 1 2 3 4 5 20 19 18 17 16 15
For Zev and Eitan
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ix
Note on Translation xiii
Introduction 1
1 Diaspora Studies for Sephardic Culture 8
2 A llegory and Romance in Diaspora:
Jacob ben Elazar’s Book of Tales 34
3 P oetry in Diaspora: From al-Andalus to Provence
and Back to Castile 64
4 Th e Anxiety of Vernacularization: Shem Tov ben
Isaac ibn Ardutiel de Carrión’s Proverbios morales and
Debate between the Pen and the Scissors 97
5 Diaspora as Tragicomedy: Vidal Benvenist’s Efer and Dina 127
6 E mpire and Diaspora: Solomon ibn Verga’s
Shevet Yehudah and Joseph Karo’s Magid Meisharim 151
7 R eading Amadís in Constantinople:
Spanish Fiction in the Key of Diaspora 182
Conclusion 206
Notes 209
Bibliography 255
Index 287
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
First I would like to thank the Department of Romance Languages
and the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Oregon
for their ongoing support over the past ten years and, in particular, the ef-
ficient, hardworking, and ever-professional departmental administrators,
Herlinda Leon, Kerry Schlicht, and Zach Lazar.
Support from various sources enabled me to bring the project to com-
pletion. I received a Harry Starr Fellowship in Judaica from the Harvard
Center for Jewish Studies (2006), a Summer Research Award from the
College of Arts and Sciences, University of Oregon (2010), and the Er-
nest G. Moll Fellowship in Literary Studies, Oregon Humanities Center,
University of Oregon (2010). In addition, AHA International in Oviedo,
Spain, provided administrative support and office space during spring
semester 2013. I spent much of spring 2013 working at the offices of AHA
International Oviedo, the library of the University of Oviedo, and espe-
cially Cafetería-Restaurante Flandes, where you can get the best tortilla
española in town. Large portions of this book were researched and written
while I listened to the channel “Drone Zone” on somafm.com, a nonprofit,
listener-supported, commercial-free internet radio station.
I had the opportunity to present preliminary versions of a number of
chapters at professional meetings, including the International Congress
on Medieval Studies, the Modern Language Association, the Midwest
Medieval Association, the Mediterranean Seminar (UC Multi-Campus
Research Project), and in invited talks at the following institutions: the
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