The study extends the notion of salvage poetics so successfully and impactfully explored in Jelen's prior book on American Jewish salvage poetics to the Israeli literary scene. The book makes a significant contribution to the field of Jewish literary and ethnographic studies and post-Holocaust recuperation.--Wendy Zierler "Sigmund Falk Professor of Modern Jewish Literature and Feminist Studies, HUC-JIR" (6/13/2023 12:00:00 AM)
This fascinating book weaves together literary and ethnographic discourses to explore how Israeli writers have engaged with Yiddish and Yiddish literature as a way of salvaging the world of eastern European Jewry. Through the lens of salvage poetics, Sheila Jelen provides innovative and perceptive analysis of both canonical and overlooked Hebrew texts and how they return, again and again, to a past that was supposed to have been forgotten.--Naomi Brenner "The Ohio State University" (6/13/2023 12:00:00 AM)
Through meticulous research and elegant readings, Jelen offers a fresh look at canonical writers, recovers lesser-known works of these writers, and introduces almost-forgotten writers, bringing them together in a compelling narrative. A major contribution of the book is the way it clearly defines the term 'salvage poetics': as the intersection between past and present, ethnography and aesthetics; as a way to understand, preserve, and substitute for the vanished world.--Nancy E. Berg "professor of Hebrew and comparative literature, Washington University in St. Louis" (6/13/2023 12:00:00 AM)