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Author Bernuth, Ruth von, author

Title How the wise men got to Chelm : the life and times of a Yiddish folk tradition / Ruth von Bernuth
Published New York : New York University Press, [2016]

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Description 1 online resource
Contents 1. How the Wise Men got to Gotham: the fools of Chelm take Manhattan -- 2. How foolish Is Jewish culture? fools, Jews, and the Carnivalesque Culture of early modernity -- 3. Through the land of foolish culture: from Laleburg to Schildburg -- 4. Gentile fools speaking Yiddish: the Schildbergerbuch for Jewish readers -- 5. The enlightenment goes East: how Democritus of Abdera got to Galicia -- 6. The geography of folly: the folklorists and the invention of Chelm -- 7. Chelm tales after World War One in German and Yiddish: "Our Schilda" and "Our Chelm Correspondent."
Summary "How the Wise Men Got to Chelm is the first in-depth study of Chelm literature and its relationship to its literary precursors. By placing literary Chelm and its 'foolish' antecedents in a broader historical context, it shows how they have functioned for over three hundred years as models of society, somewhere between utopia and dystopia. These imaginary foolish towns have enabled writers both to entertain and highlight a variety of societal problems, a function that literary Chelm continues to fulfill in Jewish literature to this day"--Publisher description
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes Print version record
SUBJECT Deutsch ... gnd
Lalebuch gnd
Subject Folk literature, Yiddish -- Poland -- Chełm (Lublin) -- History and criticism
SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Folklore & Mythology.
Folk literature, Yiddish
Volkserzählung
Schlemihl
Juden
Jiddisch
Jewish wit and humor in literature.
Jewish folk literature -- History and criticism.
Folk literature, Yiddish -- Poland -- Chełm (Lublin) -- History and criticism.
Folk literature, Yiddish -- History and criticism.
Poland -- Chełm (Lublin)
Osteuropa
Kollm
Genre/Form Criticism, interpretation, etc.
Form Electronic book
ISBN 9781479827497
1479827495