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Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Social institutions > Customs & folklore > Folklore
The seminal medieval history of the Second Commonwealth period of
ancient Jewish history. Sepher Yosippon was written in Hebrew by a
medieval historian and noted by modern scholars for its eloquent
style. This is the first known chronicle of Jewish history and
legend-from Adam to the destruction of the Second Temple-since the
canonical histories written by Flavius Josephus in Greek and later
translated by Christian scholars into Latin. Sepher Yosippon has
been cited and referred to by scholars, poets, and authors as the
authentic source for ancient Israel for over a millennium, until
overshadowed by the twentiethcentury Hebrew translations of
Josephus. It is based on Pseudo Hegesippus's fourth-century
anti-Jewish summary of Josephus's Jewish War. However, the
anonymous author (a.k.a. Joseph ben Gurion Hacohen) also consulted
with the Latin versions of Josephus's works available to him. At
the same time, he included a wealth of Second Temple literature as
well as Roman and Christian sources. This book contains Steven
Bowman's translation of the complete text of David Flusser's
standard Hebrew edition of Sepher Yosippon, which includes the
later medieval interpolations referring to Jesus. The present
English edition also contains the translator's introduction as well
as a preface by the fifteenth-century publisher of the book. The
anonymous author of this text remains unique for his approach to
history, his use of sources, and his almost secular attitude, which
challenges the modern picture of medieval Jews living in a
religious age. In his influential novel, A Guest for the Night, the
Nobel Laureate author Shmuel Yosef Agnon emphasized the importance
of Sepher Yosippon as a valuable reading to understand human
nature. Bowman's translation of Flusser's notes, as well as his own
scholarship, offers a well-wrought story for scholars and students
interested in Jewish legend and history in the medieval period,
Jewish studies, medieval literature, and folklore studies.
Against the methodological backdrop of historical and comparative
folk narrative research, 101 Middle Eastern Tales and Their Impact
on Western Oral Tradition surveys the history, dissemination, and
characteristics of over one hundred narratives transmitted to
Western tradition from or by the Middle Eastern Muslim literatures
(i.e., authored written works in Arabic, Persian, and Ottoman
Turkish). For a tale to be included, Ulrich Marzolph considered two
criteria: that the tale originates from or at least was transmitted
by a Middle Eastern source, and that it was recorded from a Western
narrator's oral performance in the course of the nineteenth or
twentieth century. The rationale behind these restrictive
definitions is predicated on Marzolph's main concern with the
long-lasting effect that some of the "Oriental" narratives
exercised in Western popular tradition-those tales that have
withstood the test of time. Marzolph focuses on the originally
"Oriental" tales that became part and parcel of modern Western oral
tradition. Since antiquity, the "Orient" constitutes the
quintessential Other vis-a-vis the European cultures. While
delineation against this Other served to define and reassure the
Self, the "Orient" also constituted a constant source of
fascination, attraction, and inspiration. Through oral retellings,
numerous tales from Muslim tradition became an integral part of
European oral and written tradition in the form of learned
treatises, medieval sermons, late medieval fabliaux, early modern
chapbooks, contemporary magazines, and more. In present times, when
national narcissisms often acquire the status of strongholds
delineating the Us against the Other, it is imperative to
distinguish, document, visualize, and discuss the extent to which
the West is not only indebted to the Muslim world but also shares
common features with Muslim narrative tradition. 101 Middle Eastern
Tales and Their Impact on Western Oral Tradition is an important
contribution to this debate and a vital work for scholars,
students, and readers of folklore and fairy tales.
This is not a book of facts; it's a book of 'facts'. Should you
finish it believing we became the planet's dominant species because
predators found us too smelly to eat; or that the living bloodline
of Christ is a family of Japanese garlic farmers - well, that's on
you. Why are we here? Do ghosts exist? Did life on Earth begin
after a badly tidied-up picnic? Was it just an iceberg that sank
the Titanic? Are authors stealing their plotlines from the future?
Will we ever talk to animals? And why, when you're in the shower,
does the shower curtain always billow in towards you? We don't know
the answers to any of these questions. But don't worry, no matter
what questions you have, you can bet on the fact that there is
someone (or something) out there, investigating it on your behalf.
From the sports stars who use cosmic energy to office plants
investigating murders, The Theory of Everything Else will act as a
handbook for those who want to think differently.
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