Il Purim-shpil: origini e trasformazioni

The Purim-shpil: Origins and Transformations In this paper I consider the origins of the most venerable form of Yiddish theatre, the Purim-shpil. In particular, I note the first attestations of the term Purim-shpil, from its initial appearance in Yiddish texts from  16th-century Italy, to subsequent...

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Main Author: Claudia Rosenzweig
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Milano University Press 2011-06-01
Series:Altre Modernità
Subjects:
Online Access:https://riviste.unimi.it/index.php/AMonline/article/view/1159
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author Claudia Rosenzweig
author_facet Claudia Rosenzweig
author_sort Claudia Rosenzweig
collection DOAJ
description The Purim-shpil: Origins and Transformations In this paper I consider the origins of the most venerable form of Yiddish theatre, the Purim-shpil. In particular, I note the first attestations of the term Purim-shpil, from its initial appearance in Yiddish texts from  16th-century Italy, to subsequent examples: 1. a Purim-shpil from Germany, from the years 1595-1605 and 2. Eyn sheyn Purim-shpil from Wagenseil’s collection (1697), both published by Chone Shmeruk in 1979. I endeavour to interpret these texts – which cannot yet be defined as fully theatral – within the rich parodic tradition of Purim in Ashkenazi society, and propose that this tradition should be seen not in terms of ‘popular’, but rather as the fruit of a skilled use of different registers, ‘high’ and ‘low’, in a way that parallels the parodies of sacred Christian texts in European Medieval literature. Indeed we know that the actors were often students of the Talmudic Academies, and thus among the most cultured intellectuals of Ashkenazi society. The use not only of quotations and references from the Hebrew Bible, but from Midrash and prayers in the Holy Tongue as well, prove that these texts are a refined product of a rooted patrimony that continues to bear its fruit to this very day.
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spelling doaj.art-6b8ea111a6f14e91907bddc54b974e6d2023-08-02T01:36:52ZengMilano University PressAltre Modernità2035-76802011-06-0100224310.13130/2035-7680/11591075Il Purim-shpil: origini e trasformazioniClaudia Rosenzweig0Università di Bar-Ilan (Ramat-Gan) e Università Ebraica di GerusalemmeThe Purim-shpil: Origins and Transformations In this paper I consider the origins of the most venerable form of Yiddish theatre, the Purim-shpil. In particular, I note the first attestations of the term Purim-shpil, from its initial appearance in Yiddish texts from  16th-century Italy, to subsequent examples: 1. a Purim-shpil from Germany, from the years 1595-1605 and 2. Eyn sheyn Purim-shpil from Wagenseil’s collection (1697), both published by Chone Shmeruk in 1979. I endeavour to interpret these texts – which cannot yet be defined as fully theatral – within the rich parodic tradition of Purim in Ashkenazi society, and propose that this tradition should be seen not in terms of ‘popular’, but rather as the fruit of a skilled use of different registers, ‘high’ and ‘low’, in a way that parallels the parodies of sacred Christian texts in European Medieval literature. Indeed we know that the actors were often students of the Talmudic Academies, and thus among the most cultured intellectuals of Ashkenazi society. The use not only of quotations and references from the Hebrew Bible, but from Midrash and prayers in the Holy Tongue as well, prove that these texts are a refined product of a rooted patrimony that continues to bear its fruit to this very day.https://riviste.unimi.it/index.php/AMonline/article/view/1159YiddishparodiaEbrei ashkenazitiPurim-shpil
spellingShingle Claudia Rosenzweig
Il Purim-shpil: origini e trasformazioni
Altre Modernità
Yiddish
parodia
Ebrei ashkenaziti
Purim-shpil
title Il Purim-shpil: origini e trasformazioni
title_full Il Purim-shpil: origini e trasformazioni
title_fullStr Il Purim-shpil: origini e trasformazioni
title_full_unstemmed Il Purim-shpil: origini e trasformazioni
title_short Il Purim-shpil: origini e trasformazioni
title_sort il purim shpil origini e trasformazioni
topic Yiddish
parodia
Ebrei ashkenaziti
Purim-shpil
url https://riviste.unimi.it/index.php/AMonline/article/view/1159
work_keys_str_mv AT claudiarosenzweig ilpurimshpiloriginietrasformazioni