Reviews for Discovering Exile: Yiddish and Jewish American Culture During the Holocaust

The average rating for Discovering Exile: Yiddish and Jewish American Culture During the Holocaust based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2017-06-30 00:00:00 Richard Ashcraft The stories presented here are Old Norse versions of three romances by Chretien Des Troyes, the great architect of Arthurian romance from the 12th century. I read English versions of these stories years ago. So, why then would I want to read an English translation of the Norse versions? People did not always translate the way we do today; trying to be faithful to the original. They made their own versions of the story tailored to their style. For example the German versions of Chretien's Eric and Enid and Yvain by Hartmann Von Aue are not just translations, but classics in their own right. Being a lover of Norse sagas, I wanted to see how these stories played out when presented in the Norse tradition. Yvain, or the Knight with the Lion was okay. It read a bit like a shortened prose version of the original. There is also a portion missing due to the imperfect manuscripts. Perveval, or the story of the Grail, was also quite fun, but still not as good as the original. Sadly, Chretien died before finishing this story, so other versions, such as Eschenbach's Parzival, gave them endings. The Norse version tries to give an ending to Perceval's adventure, but I felt it was done in a very anticlimactic way. The portion dealing with the adventures of Gawain just ended abruptly, like the original. They did not even bother trying to fabricate some sort of outcome to the cliffhanger. His adventure btw struck me as a bit of a head trip! (The dangerous bed?!) I believe the story that really shines here, and really felt like a tale that could rival the Norse legendary sagas, is the story of Eric and Enid (here called the Saga of Erex). It read smoothly and enjoyably, with a few adventures thrown in that are not even in the original. This story tells of Erex, who puts himself and his poor wife through much hardship just to prove that he is a worthy knight when he overhears his wife complain that others are calling him lazy ever since he married his dream girl. (Well, not in those words exactly.) It's a wild tale. There are also two versions of a humorous tale called the Tale of the Mantle. This is an added bonus to this book.

Review # 2 was written on 2009-10-31 00:00:00 Jarkko Ranta I must confess, I'm not a huge fan of Arthurian romance and tend to fall asleep while reading them, but these Norse versions are really enjoyable. This volume contains the Norse adaptions of several romances originally composed by Chrétien de Troyes, these include Ívens saga, Parcevals saga, Valvens þáttr and Erex saga and two versions of the Le mantel mautaillé called Möttuls saga and Skikkju rímur. All are fine example of the riddarasögur (rider, knights saga) genre.