No Place of Rest: Jewish Literature, Expulsion, and the Memory of Medieval France Contributor(s): Einbinder, Susan L. (Author) |
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ISBN: 0812241150 ISBN-13: 9780812241150 Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press OUR PRICE: $66.45 Product Type: Hardcover Published: November 2008 Annotation: "No Place of Rest" pursues the literary traces of the traumatic expulsion of Jews from France in 1306. Through careful readings of liturgical, philosophical, memorial, and medical texts, Susan Einbinder reveals how medieval Jews asserted their identity in exile. |
Additional Information |
BISAC Categories: - Literary Criticism | Jewish - Literary Criticism | Medieval |
Dewey: 892.412 |
LCCN: 2008012681 |
Series: Middle Ages |
Physical Information: 1" H x 6.2" W x 9" (1.25 lbs) 280 pages |
Themes: - Chronological Period - Medieval (500-1453) - Ethnic Orientation - Jewish - Cultural Region - French |
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
Publisher Description: When King Philip VI expelled the Jews in 1306, some 100,000 men, women, and children were driven from royal France into the neighboring lands of Spain, Provence, Italy, and North Africa. The great expulsion of 1306 was arguably one of the most traumatic moments of medieval Jewish history and would prove to be the harbinger of a series of recalls and expulsions, local and general, culminating in King Charles VI's expulsion decree of 1394. Despite the upheavals of the fourteenth century, the literary productivity of Jews was astonishing. Yet there are few direct references to the catastrophic events of 1306, even in Jewish liturgical and historiographic texts, where one would expect to find them. In No Place of Rest, Susan Einbinder coaxes out the literary traces of this traumatic expulsion. Why did the memory of this proud and vibrant Jewish community fade from historical memory? Where do its remnants reside among later communities and readers? From the lyrics of the supposed Jewish troubadour Isaac HaGorni to medical texts and astronomical charts, Einbinder studies a range of writings she reveals to be commemorative. Her careful readings uncover the ways in which medieval Jews asserted their identity in exile and, perhaps more important, helped to preserve or efface their history. |