![]() | The Revolutionary Roots of Modern Yiddish, 1903-1917 Subjects: Yiddish language -- Russia -- History -- 20th century; Yiddish language -- Social aspects -- Russia; Jews -- Russia -- Intellectual life -- 20th century; Niger Samuel 1883–1955; Borochov Ber 1881–1917; Shtif Nahum 1879–1933; At the beginning of the twentieth century, Yiddish was widely viewed, even by many of its speakers, as a corrupt form of German that Jews had to abandon if they hoped to engage in serious intellectual, cultural, or political work. Yet by 1917 it was the dominant language of the Russian Jewish press, a medium for modern literary criticism, a vehicle for science and learning, and the foundation of an ideology of Jewish liberation. The Revolutionary Roots of Modern Yiddish, 1903-1917 investigates how this change in status occurred and focuses on the three major figures responsible for its transformation. Barry Trachtenberg is assistant professor of European Jewish Studies at the University at Albany, SUNY. He has published articles in the Journal of Modern Jewish Studies and Science in Context, as well as in several edited volumes. He is the recipient of a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities for his work on Yiddish in the twentieth century. |
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