Early Yiddish Epic
Jerold C. Frakes
Syracuse University Press
Unlike   most other ancient European, Near Eastern, and Mediterranean<br />     civilizations, Jewish culture surprisingly developed no early epic   tradition:<br />     while the Bible comprises a broad range of literary genres, epic is   not<br />     among them. Not until the late medieval period, Beginning in the   fourtheeth<br />     century, did an extensive and thriving epic tradition emerge in   Yiddish.<br />     Among the few dozen extant early epics, there are several   masterpieces,<br />     of which ten are translated into English in this volume. Divided   between<br />     the religious and the secular, the book includes eight epics presented   in<br />     their entirety, an illustrative excerpt from another epic, and a brief   heroic<br />     prose tale.These texts have been chosen as the best and the most   interesting representatives<br />     of the genre in terms of cultural history and literary quality:<br />     the pious “epicizing” of biblical narrative, the swashbuckling   medieval<br />     courtly epic, Arthurian romance, heroic vignettes, intellectual high art,   and<br />     popular camp.