Literature as a Medium for Memory

The book focuses on the presentation of basic figures of memory that are present in the twenty-six novels by the Yiddish writer Sholem Asch. This study shows how memory is crystallized in the Jewish experience of nature and in the reality shaped by people, as well as in the reception of the biblical and historical events to which the author refers.

The book focuses on the presentation of some basic figures of memory that are present in the twenty-six novels by the Yiddish writer Sholem Asch. This study shows how memory is crystallized in the experience of surrounding landscapes and nature, and particularly in the reality shaped by man: towns and cities, family, religion, festivities and everyday life, the world of dreams and ideas as well as the biblical and historical events to which the author refers. Asch tried to preserve the common memory as perceived by Jews but since the target readers of his works were both Jews and Christians, his work has had an impact on both the collective memory of his own people and the treasury of universal human memory.

Autorentext

Magdalena Sitarz graduated in German Philology at Jagiellonian University (Poland), where she also received her doctoral and post-doctoral degree. She has worked at the Institute of German Philology at Jagiellonian University since 1988, currently she is Assistant Professor. Her doctoral dissertation contains an analysis of Yiddish proverbs as compared to their Polish and German counterparts.

Inhalt
Contents: Jewish Life in Poland: «From the world which is already gone» Literature as a Reflection and Co-Creator of Common Memory Memory in Sholem Asch's Novels Was Sholem Asch a Polish Author? First Editions of Asch's Works in Yiddish and Their Translations.